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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, gave the following statement this afternoon on the House floor urging his Republican colleagues to support a revised Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act. The revised bill caps the program at 300 percent of the poverty level, but grandfathers New Jersey in at 350 percent. It also clarifies citizenship requirements and moves adults without children out of the program within one year, rather than two.
"Thank you, Madam Speaker. Last week the White House Press Secretary said, 'we won this round' after the House failed last week to override President Bush’s veto of the bipartisan bicameral agreement to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
"Let’s be clear, there were no winners that resulted from last week’s vote. There were only losers. Those who will lose the most are all the low-income children who will be denied access to quality health care because of the ideological war being waged against them by the President and his foot soldiers in Congress.
"To my Republican colleagues, we probably only need about 10 more of you to make the difference for 10 million children. 10 Republicans for 10 million kids.
"Those who voted against the CHIP bill and to uphold the President’s veto have a chance to redeem themselves and show that they stand with America’s children and not with a misguided President who is out of touch with the needs of our nation’s hard working families.
"Madam Speaker, we cannot compromise on the 10 million kids this bill would cover or the level of funding necessary to pay for their health care. We are determined to maintain coverage for the kids presently enrolled in CHIP and add up to 4 million kids who are eligible but not enrolled. But because of our determination to make this bill law, we have made other changes to it in the hopes of having more of our Republican colleagues join us in providing health care to 10 million American kids.
"Flexibility was the hallmark of the CHIP program when it began ten years ago. Republicans demanded that it be a block grant to the States on the theory that the States would know how best to use those funds. But the bill has been changed now because Republicans say they want to constrain state flexibility.
"The bill today states unequivocally that no state can cover illegal aliens. It mandates that states have to completely phase out childless adults after one year. And it limits the ability of States to cover children above a certain level of poverty.
"Madam Speaker, this is another reasonable compromise that preserves the promise our colleagues made ten years ago: that millions of children from hard-working American families are able to obtain the health coverage they need to grow up happy and healthy. I urge those of my colleagues who are still on the fence to fall on the side of 10 million American children whose health care is on the line. They need you now more than ever."
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