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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 in support of overriding President Bush's veto of H.R. 3963, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act.
"I am amazed that more Republicans are not willing to join us in our effort to give 10 million children access to quality health care coverage. Last year, at this time, state health officials came to Washington demanding that we provide more money for CHIP in order to strengthen the program.
"We put together this bill to strengthen CHIP so that we could reach 10 million children, four million more than are currently enrolled. Now, six months later, we're still hearing Republicans on the other side saying, well, we don't need this. It's not necessary.
"Meanwhile, the situation is only getting worse. The economy's on the downturn. This downturn could lead to more people being unemployed, which could result in more people needing Medicaid and CHIP. The problems that existed last year are worse today, and yet a majority of Republicans continue to oppose this legislation.
"Not only are States not going to have the financial resources to respond to the economic downturn, but even if they did, their hands would be tied by the Bush administration’s misguided policy contained in the August 17th directive. This policy is truly atrocious. It would, amongst other things, force a child to go one full year without health insurance before they could enroll in CHIP.
"For anyone that thinks this will not have an impact on those who rely on CHIP, think again. We are already seeing its effects. Some states have already had there applications to expand coverage denied, other States are scaling back their plans to improve health care coverage for low-income kids. The bottom line is that the States’ ability to respond to the economic downturn and assist hard working families with health care coverage is going to become exponentially worse if we do not override the President’s veto, thereby providing the State’s with the financial resources they need and overturning the August 17th directive.
"It's an absolute disgrace, in my opinion, that this bill was vetoed. We should override the veto so that we can finally address a serious and growing concern throughout our nation."
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