Gillibrand Statement on President's Veto

Press Release

Gillibrand Statement on President's Veto

"I am extremely disappointed that with the President's veto. This bill had bipartisan support and its passage is critical to our country's children and their families," Congresswoman Gillibrand said. "I will do all I can to secure the votes to override this veto. This is too important to let partisan politics hold up."

"Upstate New York's working families have seen tremendous increases in health care costs. Child Health Plus has allowed many parents to have an affordable health care option for their children; the President's actions today are irresponsible to the thousands of children who have no access to quality healthcare."

H.R. 976 is endorsed by a coalition of 270 groups, including the American Medical Association and the AARP.

Earlier this year, Congresswoman Gillibrand held a town hall forum on Child Health Plus in Brunswick to discuss the importance of the program and Congress' effort to expand the program and heard directly from parents, nurses and children about how important this program is to them.

Some provisions of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 included:

* Provides $35 billion in new funding for SCHIP over the next five years
* Reduces the number of uninsured children by four million
* Improves benefits for children enrolled in SCHIP, including providing dental coverage and mental health benefits
* Provides funding to states to improve outreach efforts in order to find eligible, but uninsured children and get them enrolled
* Establishes a quality child health initiative to develop and implement quality measures and improve state reporting of quality data

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