The Republican Policy Committee
Envisioned as the principal forum for the consideration of forward-looking legislative initiatives the Policy Committee is an important means for every member of the Conference to develop sound legislative ideas into meaningful legislation.

RSS Subscribe RSS

SCHIP Falls Short --Again

I feel as if I’m in the Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day” where the same thing keeps happening over and over again. We have voted on several bad SCHIP bills and then sent them to the President only to have him veto them now for the third time.

Meanwhile, we passed an extension of the current plan which gives us until March 2009 to craft a good, solid bill that prioritizes health insurance for the poorest children. Now, the majority decides to bring the bad bill back up yet again intensify the political rhetoric that is inevitable during an election year. But, they’re doing it at the expense of children’s health insurance and that is unacceptable.

I was a doctor in Texas for nearly three decades before coming to Congress to help fix the problems I encountered with the government-run programs that fall short of the promises they make. We have made a promise to the nation’s uninsured children to provide them the coverage they need.

Unfortunately, these same SCHIP bills still fall short and extend coverage to unintended populations at the expense of those they were intended to cover in the first place. The American people deserve better than empty promises.

Posted by Vice-Chairman Michael Burgess (TX - 26) (01-24-2008, 12:30 PM) filed under Vice-Chairman Burgess

Comments

Comment by: Hans Kitzvelven
January 24, 2008 02:44 PM

The Democrats want a political victory not a good bill.

Comment by: Dc Gal
January 24, 2008 02:47 PM

Congressman, I think you answered your own question. It is an election year.

Comment by: Jack Burns
January 24, 2008 02:51 PM

Congressman Burgess,
I agree wholeheartedly that government-run programs are not the answer to our helth care needs. Sadly the Democrat majority does not agree. I hope they will stop passing bad bills and work with us on a real solution.

Comment by: Jed
January 24, 2008 02:54 PM

I believe we do need to protect uninsured children and to provide them the coverage they need. However, this is a bad bill which will not do the job.

I hope President Bush vetoes this latest bill, and that Democrats will work with us to pass meaningful legislation to insure poor kids.

Submit a Comment

Name:
E-Mail: