Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 -- Veto Message From the President of the United States
Floor Speech
CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2007--VETO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 110-62) -- (House of Representatives - October 03, 2007)
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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act passed the House and the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. I would stress ``bipartisan'' because I listened to the gentleman from Louisiana. He neglects to mention that Republicans were at the table, Senator Grassley, Senator Hatch, and certainly a large number of Republicans who voted for this as well in the House of Representatives. The bill also has overwhelming support with the American people.
Yet this is a bill that the President has been threatening to veto since this summer. I don't know what happened to the President's compassion or sense of social justice. I don't think he understands the negative impact his veto will have on the millions of children who would be denied regular visits to see the doctor because he refused to sign this bill into law.
Now, let's review who stands for what. Under the bipartisan bill that the President vetoed this morning, 4 million previously uninsured low-income children, many of whom are in working families, I know there was a reference to welfare from the gentleman from Louisiana. I don't think he was referencing these kids or their families because these are working families. But 4 million previously uninsured low-income children who are in working families would get health coverage under this bill. A total of 10 million children would have their health coverage secured.
Under the bipartisan bill, the vast majority of children covered are the lowest income children who are today uninsured. According to the CBO, under the bipartisan bill, about 84 percent of the uninsured children who would benefit live in families with incomes below $40,000 a year. In addition, 1.7 million uninsured children who are eligible for Medicaid but otherwise would be uninsured would gain coverage under the agreement. Most of these would likely be children living in families with incomes below $20,000 a year. Under the bipartisan bill, States would have new tools to conduct outreach and enrollments. States could use express-lane, one-stop-shopping at places like schools, community centers and hospitals to get children covered.
The President, while he recently put out a regulation that would actually block schools from helping to sign low-income, uninsured children up for coverage, he put out another regulation that would force children to go an entire year, that is one whole year, without insurance coverage before their parents could sign them up for CHIP. That is 1 year of earaches, strep throat, asthma, diabetes and toothaches that would be treated in emergency rooms rather than the doctor's office. The President talked about how kids can go to the emergency room. Well, has he been to an emergency room lately? I was at one in my district last weekend. It is not a great place for a kid to visit. It is a scene of trauma. People who have overdosed on alcohol and drugs. Most emergency rooms are overwhelmed with real emergencies and have few resources to treat people who need regular family care.
The President makes $400,000 a year. He is guaranteed health care for life. He has a government doctor that is at his immediate call. Yet today this President has denied millions of low-income children and working families the opportunity to get even basic health care. Working Americans understand the struggle families have to make ends meet and afford health care coverage for their children. But the President and very few, because I am not talking about all Republicans, but very few of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle appear to be the only people in America who do not understand the challenges these families face or the importance of securing affordable coverage for their children.
It is a sad day, Madam Speaker, for America that the President vetoed this bill. But there is an opportunity over the next 2 weeks, because I want everyone to support this motion, but in about a week or two, we are going to have a vote on the floor. I would urge all those on the other side of the aisle who did not vote for this bill to use that time to reconsider and think about these kids when they go and cast their vote and vote to override this veto by the President.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from New Jersey is recognized for 1 minute.
Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I listened to my colleague from Texas, and he talks about process. The fact of the matter here, this is not a process issue. These are the kids that are not insured, are eligible, and we need to cover them.
The President of the United States and my colleague on the Republican side does not want to spend and provide the extra money to cover these kids that need insurance. If anything, the President's proposal and his directive would actually put more roadblocks and bureaucracy in the way with his directive that says that kids have to stay uninsured for a year, for example, before they can even get into the program.
Let there be no mistake about what the President and the Republicans on the House side are trying to do today. They don't want these kids to be covered. They don't want to provide the money for them to be covered. They want to put roadblocks in the way and say they have to be out of insurance for a year.
I remember back in the spring when some of my colleagues on the other side from Georgia came here with their representatives from the Georgia government, and they said that they didn't have enough money to cover the kids, that we needed more money for this program. I don't understand how any of you can come here today and say you are trying to help. You're not.
I would urge my colleagues to vote for this motion.
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