The new Census report illustrates why Congress needs to immediately pass legislation to strengthen the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to ensure that more of America's children have health insurance. The report shows that for the second year in a row, the number of uninsured children increased, leaving a total of 8.7 million children without health care coverage. That is unacceptable.

Democrats urge the President to end his veto threats and join the vast majority of Americans in supporting our efforts to ensure that all eligible children have the health insurance they deserve.

This new report also provides ample evidence that President Bush's economic policies of enormous tax cuts for the wealthy and massive budget deficits have failed the vast majority of the American people.

While the poverty rate is down slightly, millions of Americans feel the American Dream is getting further out of reach. Today's Census data confirms these fears. Americans are working harder but living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to make ends meet and going deeper into debt because of the high cost of health care, energy, and education.

Since President Bush took office, key economic indicators confirm that the economic security of Americans is moving in the wrong direction: 8.6 million more Americans are without health insurance, nearly 5 million more are living in poverty and non-elderly household income has declined by nearly $2,500. The rich have gotten richer, but every other income group under the Bush Administration has lost ground, with the middle class and working families losing the most.