Cornyn Co-Sponsors Kids First Bill to Provide Responsible SCHIP Expansion

Press Release

Cornyn Co-Sponsors Kids First Bill to Provide Responsible SCHIP Expansion

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn announced today that he has again co-sponsored the Kids First bill to provide a responsible $10 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Kids First was reintroduced by its main sponsors, U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and Trent Lott, R-Miss. Passage of this legislation would ensure renewed focus on SCHIP's original intent—covering children in working poor families.

Kids First is a responsible alternative to the Democratic SCHIP bill, vetoed by President Bush this week that would divert Texas taxpayer money to expand and subsidize the SCHIP program for middle-class adults in northern states. The bill Sen. Cornyn backs increases funding for SCHIP by approximately 40 percent, which will provide coverage for 200,000 additional Texas children, fully funding the Texas Legislature's commitment for increased enrollment.

"I strongly support the reauthorization and expansion of the SCHIP program. It is an important way to help provide health care for children from working poor families in Texas who need it." Sen. Cornyn said. "Our focus must be on covering low-income children first—the original intent of the program. I urge my colleagues to work with us in seeking a solution that provides for the neediest in society while allowing the greatest possible flexibility for all Americans to get the best health care available."

The Kids First bill would finance a 50 percent expansion of the Texas SCHIP program, fully funding program projections set by the Texas Legislature. It directly confronts a central problem facing Texas. Approximately 700,000 Texas children are currently eligible but not enrolled in either SCHIP or Medicaid. Kids First addresses this central problem by providing $700 million for outreach and enrollment. The Democratic plan contains only a token $100 million over five years and 50 states for critical outreach efforts.

Sen. Cornyn said: "The Democratic bill balloons SCHIP by more than 140 percent to potentially include adults and children in families up to 400 percent of the poverty level. Their proposal would penalize states such as Texas that adhere to the original intent of the program. It does this by raising taxes—disproportionately on lower-income individuals—and sending Texas taxpayer money to northern states. In other words, Texas taxpayers would be effectively financing a dramatic expansion of government-run health care in states that deliberately expand their SCHIP programs well beyond its original intent. There is no sound basis upon which to take what is essentially a welfare benefit and transfer that into a middle-class entitlement."

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