Murphy Leads Effort Enlisting Rell, Republican Governors to Call on President to Sign Children's Health Care Legislation

Press Release

Murphy Leads Effort Enlisting Rell, Republican Governors to Call on President to Sign Children's Health Care Legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congressman Chris Murphy (CT-5) and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (CA-14) led an effort to organize Members of Congress to send letters to Republican Governors, including Governor M. Jodi Rell, to ask them to use their unique positions to call President Bush and ask him to put down the veto pen. The President is threatening to veto bipartisan legislation to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) program to cover ten million children nationwide. The SCHIP bill that the House of Representatives passed with a bipartisan majority Tuesday night and the Senate will take up today could provide an additional 28,000 kids in Connecticut with health care.

"Governor Rell and Republican governors across the country are in a unique position to pick up their phones and plead with the President to sign this legislation. I was glad to see that Governor Rell and many of her colleagues wrote to Congressional leaders in July to encourage them to pass the SCHIP bill. We have, and now it is up to the President to do what is right for the nation's neediest kids," said Murphy.

Murphy organized dozens of his colleagues to send the letter to the 22 Republican Governors across the country to make these calls to the President.

"A dime in prevention is worth a dollar in crisis care - we must invest now in covering uninsured kids before it is too late. Governor Rell and Republican governors across the nation could make a difference in this fight if they spoke to the President as soon as possible, before he follows through on his misguided veto promise," said Murphy.

Despite its reputation as a largely affluent state, Connecticut suffers from some of the nation's worst endemic urban poverty. With Connecticut's population growth now in a slow steady, decline, many low-income families struggle to find well-paying jobs and make ends meet. Many of those families simply cannot afford the rising costs of health insurance. In Connecticut, SCHIP is known as HUSKY B, and it provides a vital safety net to over 23,000 vulnerable Connecticut children. With the SCHIP expansion currently on the table, an additional 28,000 children could be covered.

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