Washington, DC - “I am very pleased that Congress has acted to give millions of American consumers four more months to prepare for the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting. According to Neilson, more than 6 million Americans, many of them seniors, minorities and lower income families are still not ready. And hundreds of thousands of households are still on waiting lists for discount coupons to help them purchase digital TV convertors. In Missouri, more than 40,000 households are still on the waiting list, with over 5,600 in my own district. We will continue to work to improve the information and assistance available to American consumers in advance of June 12, 2009.”

“I also want to commend President Obama and the bipartisan Congressional leadership on the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. “In Missouri, SCHIP currently covers 81,000 children from low and moderate income working families. This reauthorization will extend that coverage and expand it to include 45,000 uninsured young Missourians who will now be eligible. With rising unemployment, SCHIP is more critical than ever.

Today’s bill signing means that 11 million at-risk children whose parents go to work every day will have access to quality healthcare. And that expansion is paid for by making cigarettes more expensive so that fewer young people will start smoking. That’s good public policy on both ends, and it’s a down payment on the change that the President promised and House Democrats are dedicated to delivering.”