OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

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

Date: Oct. 18, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Health and Health Care


CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2007--VETO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES -- (House of Representatives - October 18, 2007)

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Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, in Massachusetts, we have begun to address the crisis of the uninsured. We believe health care is a right, not a privilege for the wealthy.

The president's veto of the bipartisan SCHIP compromise abandons 11 million children, including 90,500 Massachusetts children. That is unacceptable.

I wish President Bush would take the time to meet hardworking families like the O'Neils of Fall River. They were just blessed with their first child, Sean. Dad works several jobs while his wife recovers her health.

But the cost of all those doctors' visits and immunizations add up. Thanks to SCHIP, Sean is a happy, healthy baby.

But thanks to the President's veto, my proactive State exhausted its SCHIP allotment on October 1. Even with the extension, all of its funds will be gone by January 11.

To justify his position, the President has decided to distort what this good bill actually does. It doesn't cover well-off families. It doesn't cover illegal immigrants. What it does do is give a hand to millions of families who are struggling to provide health care for their kids.

I simply don't understand the President's priorities. He's more than happy to sign bills giving billions of tax breaks to oil companies and multi-millionaires, but he won't sign a modest, fully-paid-for bill that helps millions of low-income children? He's willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars--none of it paid for--in Iraq but is unwilling to sign a bill that is paid for and will keep children from losing their health care?

That makes no sense to me.

This bill has the support of the medical community, children's advocates, and even the insurance industry. There is simply no reason for the President to reject it, other than partisan politics.

I will continue to fight for this important program, and I urge all of my colleagues, Republican and Democrat, to do the same.

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