Washington, DC (Thursday, October 18, 2007) – Today Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) released the following statement in response to the vote to override the President’s veto of the Children’s Health Insurance bill. Earlier this month, President Bush vetoed the measure, which would have provided health care coverage for 10 million low-income American children. The measure failed by a vote of 273-156; 289 votes were needed to override the veto.

“We have a responsibility as individuals and as a nation to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Unfortunately, House Republicans chose to vote against America’s children and instead stand by the myths and misstatements that our President has spread about this bipartisan compromise.

“SCHIP is critical to our nation’s interests and to the millions of children whose families cannot afford private insurance. It is especially vital to the Rio Grande Valley since more than 50 percent of insured Latino children are covered by SCHIP or Medicaid. By vetoing this bill, the President has ignored the majority of Americans who support this effort. He has failed the low-income families in his home state of Texas, which has more uninsured kids than anywhere in the country.

“Currently, 20 percent of children in Texas are uninsured. Our state desperately needs the SCHIP funds provided in this bill, which would insure almost one million low-income Texan children. The President is directly hurting our state’s wellbeing by disseminating false statements and empty reasons for his veto.

“This bill is not a government takeover or socialization of health care as the President claims. It does not provide federal funding for illegal aliens, nor does it expand coverage for the middle class. What it does do is cost-effectively insure kids so that fewer taxpayer dollars have to pay for treatment in emergency rooms – the most expensive way to care for a child’s health.

“It costs less than $3.50 a day to cover a child through the Children’s Health Insurance program.  This bill simply gives states like Texas the resources and incentives to enroll children who are eligible but not signed up for SCHIP and Medicaid. In Texas, this equates to 440,000 eligible uninsured children.
   
“I believe a society is ultimately judged by how it treats its weakest and must vulnerable members. This fight to insure America’s children is not over. I urge Republicans who have sided with the President against this bill to start listening to the overwhelming majority of Americans who recognize the importance of protecting our nation’s future.”