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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, issued the following statement today after supporting an emergency supplemental bill that includes $750 million to ensure that New Jersey and 13 other states do not have to remove any children from the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in the remaining months of Fiscal Year (FY) 2007.
The New Jersey congressman also lauded a FY 2008 budget that passed out of the House Budget Committee late Wednesday night that expands the SCHIP Program by providing $50 billion over the next five years.
"Today, the House ensured thousands of New Jersey children and their families will continue to have access to quality health care through FamilyCare. By passing an emergency supplemental that includes $750 million for SCHIP, New Jersey and 13 other states will no longer face funding shortfalls in the coming months. Without the essential funds in this legislation, New Jersey would have been forced to cut off care to thousands of families in May.
"At a time when the number of uninsured is increasing daily, the new Democratic House refused to ignore the needs of states like New Jersey, which have been calling for these additional funds for months. This shortfall should have been addressed last year, but both the Bush administration and the Republican Congress chose instead to ignore the requests of Democratic and Republican Governors who said they simply needed more money. Today, this new Democratic House delivered.
"This week, the House Budget Committee also paved the way to for us to expand SCHIP by passing a fiscal year 2008 budget that includes $50 billion for the program over the next five years.
"Earlier this year I said that $50 billion would be needed to expand the program to every child who is currently eligible. Today, there are 264,000 New Jersey children who are uninsured, but 83 percent of them are eligible for FamilyCare. My top priority in the subcommittee this year is to expand coverage to all of these kids as we work to reauthorize the SCHIP program. The budget passed this week by the Budget Committee makes that possible, and when it comes to the full House next week I will enthusiastically support this significant funding increase for children's health care." |
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