Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007--Veto Message from the President of the United States

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)

Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and thank him for his tremendous work on behalf of health care for all Americans in our country and in this case for our children. I commend Mr. Pallone for his leadership as well, and the distinguished chairmen, Mr. Rangel and Mr. Dingell.

I salute the bipartisan vote that we had in the Congress to send the SCHIP legislation to the President of the United States. It was strong and bipartisan. It was about the children. And I also salute the strong vote in the United States Senate. I commend Senators Hatch and Grassley for lending their weight and bipartisanship to this important legislation. They joined Senators Rockefeller and Baucus on this important issue.

Madam Speaker, as we all know and has been spoken already, today the President of the United States missed an opportunity to say to the children of America your health and well-being are important to us, so important that we are making you a priority. Today, the President said ``no'' to bipartisan legislation that would have extended health care to 10 million American children for the next 5 years.

The President said ``no'' to giving assurances to America's working families that if they work hard and play by the rules, we are their partners in raising the next generation of Americans and investing in the future.

In his speech and his veto statement, the President indicated we were doing something in this bill that we were not, that we were expanding eligibility. No, we were just enrolling all of the children who are eligible. In fact, we didn't have enough money to enroll all of them, but as many as could be afforded by a bill that could receive bipartisan support.

The President said that we are moving toward socialized medicine and that he supports private medicine. Well, so do we, and this is about private medicine. It is about children being able to get insurance so they can have health care. The fact is that 72 percent of the children on SCHIP receive their health care through private insurance programs.

I think the strongest indication of the President's commitment to this initiative came when he was Governor of Texas. At that time the State of Texas ranked 49th in its participation in SCHIP in meeting the needs of the children of Texas.

SCHIP started as a bipartisan initiative with a Democratic President, President Clinton in the White House and a Republican Congress which came together in a bipartisan way in order to provide for the needs of our children. Once again with the reauthorization of the bill, we have come together in a bipartisan way to provide for the needs of our children.

Sadly, following true to form, this form in Texas, 49th in the country, and how could Texas be 49th in the country with all of the pride that Texas takes in its stature, its size, its commitment to the future, its large number of beautiful and diverse children, that it would allow 48 States to be ahead of them in meeting the health needs of America's children from poor working families.

What I know will happen today is that we will vote for a time certain in 2 weeks for us to bring up the override of the veto. At that time I hope that with the 43 Governors across the country, Democrats and Republicans alike, with bipartisan overwhelming support in the House and Senate, with every organization from AARP to YMCA and everything alphabetically in between, including the Catholic Hospital Association, Families USA, and the American Medical Association talking about private medicine, and the list goes on, that Members will listen, at least listen to those who care about children, who have standing in caring about children because I believe every person in this Congress cares about children, and I think it would be important for us to hear the voices of those who on a day-to-day basis try to help families who need some assistance in meeting the health needs of their children.

So, my colleagues, this is, as Mr. Hoyer said, a defining moment for the Congress of the United States. The President has said ``no.'' This Congress must not take ``no'' for an answer, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``aye'' on a time certain when we can take up the override of the President's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, an initiative to provide 10 million children health care, health insurance for 5 years. The difference between us and the President is 41 days in Iraq. For 41 days in Iraq, 10 million children can receive health care for 1 year.

Let's get our priorities in order. Let's recognize that the strength of our country, in addition to being defined by military might, is defined by the health and well-being of the American people, starting with our children.

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