Washington, Oct 18, 2007 -

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives fell short of the vote needed to override the President’s veto of the bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), also known as Peachcare, 273 to 156.

“The American people have overwhelmingly supported this bill to reauthorize CHIP and it breaks my heart to know that there are thousands of children who deserve healthcare and will be denied access to it because of the President’s choice to veto this bill,” Congressman Scott said. “I will continue to work with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to get this legislation passed and provide health coverage to those ten million children in need.”

The bipartisan bill would have reauthorized Peachcare for an additional five years. The CHIP program provides health coverage to American children whose parents do not qualify for Medicaid, but cannot afford private insurance. The $35 billion bill would bring health coverage to approximately ten million children in need – preserving coverage for all 6.6 million children currently covered by CHIP, and reaching millions more low-income, uninsured American children in the next five years. 


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