SCHIP
Floor Speech
SCHIP -- (House of Representatives - October 03, 2007)
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Ms. CLARKE. First, let me just thank you as a member of the class of 2006 to be here with my colleagues this evening to really address what is a moral imperative. Taking care of our young, taking care of our elderly, being in a position to actually have our future secured by making sure that our children are healthy and well-focused, well-nourished and ready to compete in this Nation is a critical part of what makes America America. So to hear that this morning, before the President's coffee got cold, he had vetoed the SCHIP legislation, bipartisan legislation that we delivered to him on their behalf, was really disheartening.
I think that it is imperative that Americans really press upon this body that we make sure that we override this veto. $3.50 a day. That is what it would cost us to cover the children who are currently uninsured, to provide them with preventive care so that they are able to reach their God-given potential, so that they don't have to sit up in the classroom with headaches and stomachaches and other ailments, perhaps communicable diseases that could cause an outbreak. Meningitis was one of the major issues in many of our schoolhouses last year. We have a President that sort of stood in the way of that. He has just made it unequivocally clear that this is not a policy that he will pursue.
I think it is our obligation as representatives of the people to pursue this and make sure that we get it right on their behalf. Hubert Humphrey was absolutely right. It is a moral imperative, very much so. I hope that every American feels that this evening when they look at their children this evening, when they look at their grandchildren this evening, they will count their blessings that they are able to sit with their child today and their child is not in need of a doctor's care. For those who are in need of a doctor's care, that they will pray for a mother like Deamonte's mother who went around trying to find coverage for her child, who tried to get a doctor to see her son though she did not have insurance and who was turned away. As a result, her son met his demise.
My colleague, the doctor is in the House.
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Ms. CLARKE. Would you put a pin in it right there for me, my colleague? I just also wanted to quote two other Senate Republicans. Senator ORRIN HATCH said, We are talking about kids who basically don't have coverage. I think the President has some pretty bad advice on this, you think?
Then Senator SUSAN COLLINS says, I can't believe the President would veto a program that benefits low-income children.
Mr. Speaker, we are talking bipartisan effort here. As we salute and talk about the heroism of those who would fight for our freedoms abroad, we have got to bring some heroics here right now. This is one of those issues where the faint of heart should not be casting a vote.
This goes to the fiber, the core of who we are as a Nation, not as a party, not as an individual, but as a Nation. Where are we going to set the bar for what is acceptable in leadership and what is not? I say that the President in this case has abdicated his responsibility as a leader.
Our children need us. Their health care is critical to the growth and development of our communities. For every child that falls ill, we have more and more that we have to invest in getting that child to wellness. In the meantime, the educational advances that that child should have been making have not been made. The turmoil within the home and family, the setbacks there, and, by extension, the entire community
Mr. Speaker, so I just wanted to point out to you and just to highlight, as you both have, my colleagues, that this is not a Republican issue, this is not a Democrat issue, this is an American issue, and we have got to focus on this like a laser. It is now up to us in this House of Representatives to make sure that our colleagues recognize their responsibility and leadership to override this veto.
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Ms. CLARKE. What I think most Americans find most mind-boggling is just the mindset that our President has been in in terms of his whole rationale for the veto. He at one point said the SCHIP plan is an incremental step toward the goal of government-run health care for every American.
I am saying to myself, first of all, there is a bit of hypocrisy here, because we have the Commander-in-Chief, who I believe gets a Federal health care plan himself, saying that we are moving towards government-run health care, when he knows in fact that government doctors and government health plans do not deliver the services of SCHIP. It is private doctors, private health care that do, under private insurance. So, there is this false justification he came up with.
He at one point even talked about, well, the SCHIP bill, the proposal would result in taking a program meant to help poor children and turning it into one that covers children in households with incomes up to $83,000 a year. I am saying to myself, this bill does not expand eligibility for SCHIP. The focus of the bill is on expanding health care coverage for low-income children who have no health insurance.
So there have been these false statements in justification of a decision that he made, which I really believe was in retribution, quite frankly. When we get to that level of angst, I guess, in our decisionmaking, it is time to sort of pack it up.
I think right now it is important that, as a legislative body, we take control and consciousness of the moves that we have to make on behalf of the American people, because, obviously, our Commander-in-Chief has decided to submerge himself into a bipartisan fight with himself. We have said here that we agree as Democrats and Republicans that this is important, and he is off on a whole other planet.
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Ms. CLARKE. A fraction of the cost, my colleague; a fraction of the cost of what we are spending every day to build democracies overseas. He is not willing to invest in strengthening our democracy here at home. It is fundamental. It just almost seems like a bad dream.
Another thing that the President has said, the SCHIP proposal would move millions of American children who now have private health insurance into government-run health care. What planet is he on, Doctor? The main impact of this bill would be extending coverage to low-income children who would otherwise be uninsured.
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Ms. CLARKE. When we look at our families and communities, they are called upon to do so much all the time. But these are very special times we are in. It calls for us to multitask. It calls for us to go above the call of duty to address real life-and-death issues. SCHIP is a life-and-death issue. It is here, it is now, it is our neighbors. It is our coworkers' children. It is the folks who attend religious services with us. It is their children. We need to call our representatives, e-mail our representatives. We need to make sure that the Speaker's office, the whip's office, the majority leader's office, we need to make sure that we make our voices heard, jam the phone lines.
Mr. ELLISON. Representative Clarke, one of the things I really enjoy about serving with you, you are a person of tremendous faith. And also I know that Dr. Kagen is a man of great faith as well. In fact, only a few weeks ago we recognized Yom Kippur, a sacred holiday for our Jewish brethren and sisters. One of the phrases they use from the scripture and cite is, Let there be no needy among you.
I know you come from the Christian tradition. It is interesting to me because I noticed that one of the things that Jesus did is that he healed people and he didn't charge them.
Ms. CLARKE. No, he didn't.
Mr. ELLISON. Let's talk about this idea. Would it be okay, and people can do whatever they want, we are not telling anybody what to do, but what somebody might do is ask their pastor to sort of talk about SCHIP and its moral implications.
Ms. CLARKE. Their pastors, their imams, and their rabbis. We need to make sure that our children are protected, and we have an opportunity to do so. We should not miss this opportunity. We don't know when it will come our way again.
Just think about the lives in between, the children's lives in between that will be adversely impacted if we are unable to override the President's veto.
We don't have any time to waste. The imperative is there. And I think there isn't a parent, an aunt, an uncle or grandparent who doesn't understand what it is to stay up late at night when their child is ill and to feel helpless. Compound that with the fact that you can't even go to a doctor until, as your President says, they are sick enough to be wheeled into an emergency room. There has got to be a better way, my colleagues.
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Ms. CLARKE. We are already moving in a new direction. Under the leadership of our Speaker Nancy Pelosi, this Congress has risen to a new level of stridency and of focus with regard to the issues that are impacting every district across this Nation. So we have to be very clear. We may not see the tangible results right this second, but they are all lined up and we have already seen a number of really extraordinary pieces of legislation passed here in the House. We have even seen the College Cost Reduction Act signed into law.
We should not overlook those things, and understand that none of that came easy for us. We had to put ourselves on the line. We had to stand up and be counted. We will do that again with SCHIP. This is just another bump in the road, but I believe without struggle there is no progress. We need to make sure that the American people, the parents, the grandparents, tune in and let their voices be known.
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Ms. CLARKE. Let me start by thanking you, Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, for leading the class of 2006 on the floor as we really get to the substance of a real disappointment to the American people today, which was the veto of our SCHIP legislation, the bipartisan SCHIP legislation, and just to say that when we provide for the least of these in our society, we are building a stronger Nation. When we recognize that no one is disposable in our society, we have an obligation to reach out and to provide for those who can't provide for themselves.
If we take care of a child today who's low income, that child becomes a productive part of our society. They will be taking care of us as we grow older, and it's a cycle and it's a circle, and when we understand that, then we know how important this vote is coming up. And we want to urge our colleagues across party lines, hold the line on SCHIP, hold the line on SCHIP. Our low-income children, our children in our communities, our families who are just struggling to make ends meet need us to be there for them to override this veto.
I want to thank my colleagues for having me in the class of 2006 and speaking out today and turn it over to my colleague, Dr. Kagen of Wisconsin.
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