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. 110-80) -- (House of Representatives - December 12, 2007)

[Page: H15382]

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Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Madam Speaker, I'm a new Member of this Chamber, and so I don't know all the history of SCHIP. I don't know all of the reasons why the bill was written, why it was, the history of negotiations, and with all due respect to my friends who were here, I don't really care, because what I know is that right now there are millions of children throughout this country who go to bed each night ill, simply because they can't afford to see a doctor. And let me tell you why I think it's a good thing that we should wait a couple of weeks in order to take this vote. Because, frankly, I'm a hopeless romantic when it comes to this House, the people's House's ability to impose the will of the vast majority of Americans. Call me crazy, but I think that when 80 percent of Americans, as the CBS News poll told us some weeks ago, support advancing children's health care, then maybe, maybe, this House should do something about it. I'm also unapologetically idealistic about our moral obligation as a society and as a Congress, because I know every single one of us, if we were walking down the road and we saw a sick child on the side, we would stop everything we were doing and try to help that child. And I don't understand why that argument isn't extrapolated to those children throughout this country who are sick only because they can't afford health care. We have a moral obligation to help those kids. And we have a fiscal obligation as well, because that system of universal coverage that extends only to people that go to emergency rooms when they get so sick that that's the only place that they can go, that costs us money. As moral and fiscal custodians of this great Nation, we have an obligation to pass this bill, to override this President's veto and to give all the time in the world to your constituents and our constituents to make that case over the next 4 weeks.

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