Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009

Floor Speech

CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - January 14, 2009)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.

Madam Speaker, we have been working to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program for the past 2 years. In the last Congress, we passed legislation that enjoyed bipartisan support in both the House and Senate as well as the support of the American people. Unfortunately, it did not enjoy the support of the President, who vetoed our bill not once, but twice, and went on to proclaim that uninsured children can simply go to the emergency room to have their medical needs met.

But this is a new day in Washington. Soon we will have a new President who has committed himself to reforming our Nation's health care system so every American can access affordable and quality health care. The bill we are considering today makes a down payment on that promise by putting the health and well-being of our children first.

Madam Speaker, this bill will make critical improvements to CHIP. There will be more resources for States to enroll eligible children. There will be better benefits. As a result, there will be 11 million children who will have access to the quality health coverage they need and deserve.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself another 15 seconds.

After 2 years of trying to get this bill enacted, we are now nearing the finish line and with not a moment to spare. As the Nation moves deeper into a recession and unemployment rates continue to rise, millions of Americans are joining the ranks of the uninsured, many of whom are children. We can't delay. We must enact this legislation now.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I would yield myself a minute and a half.

I just want to stress how important this bill is and also that it is, essentially, the same bill that we passed in the last Congress. It was bipartisan. It was passed in both houses with a fairly large margin. The only thing that stood in the way was President Bush's veto.

Now we do have a new President. We know that he has supported the legislation. It is so crucial for the children of this country, for the 4 million or so now who are eligible but for whom there is no funding, who will be covered by this legislation. It is fully paid for.

Particularly now, when we have a recession and when we know that so many people are losing their jobs and, as a consequence, their health insurance for themselves and for their families, what could be more important than making sure that those families' children are covered by this legislation?

I must say I'm very proud of the fact that we are here in the first week, essentially, of this new Congress passing this bill. I know the other body is about to pass it as well and that we will be able to send it to the President and have it be one of the first accomplishments of his Presidency and of this Congress.

I know Mr. Stark already thanked the various staff members, so I won't thank them again. But I do want to pay particular attention to Bridgett Taylor because I know that she worked on this legislation for 2 years or more and was even there when we first passed the SCHIP bill 10 years before that. And it has always been one of the things that she cares so much about. But I want to thank all of the staff people and all of my colleagues for all of the work that they've done on this legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, it wasn't enough that President Bush vetoed two children's health bills that would have made great advances in children's health. Now my Republican colleagues are trying to undermine the coverage gains that would be made in this bill.

This proposal being put forward by my Republican colleagues isn't a way to put poor kids first. It's a way to stop States from moving forward to help additional uninsured children.

The CHIP bill already puts poor kids first by targeting enrollment bonuses only to the poorest kids, those in Medicaid. Eight in ten newly insured children under CHIP have incomes below current eligibility levels. The Republican proposal is simply a way to stop States from moving forward.

Unfortunately, the reality of today is that these moderate income families who would be excluded under this motion are struggling to make ends meet, too. Health costs have been rising much faster than income over the past decade. A family at 300 percent of poverty, for example, earning $52,800 a year--these so-called rich folks, according to Republicans--now spend an average of 19 percent of their income on premiums for employer-sponsored coverage if they even have access to it. Ten years ago, that same family was only spending 11 percent of income on premiums for their employer plan.

The CHIP bill moves us forward. It's the largest investment in children's health since the original CHIP law was passed in '97. And this Congress will do more for children, and it's an excellent step forward.

Now I want to mention that research shows that no means tested program reaches 90 percent of the individuals or families eligible for it. Moreover, there is not reliable State-by-State data to even measure participation rates accurately among the States.

While the Bush administration initially attempted to establish measures like Mr. Deal is talking about, leading independent academic and research institutions discredited the Bush administration's target rate, such as CBO and the Urban Institute, and the Bush administration has moved away from its initial administrative directive of enforcing such limits on States the way this motion would do.

So again, the point is we need to move forward. This is simply a rouse essentially to gut the bill for those moderate-income families that would benefit for it.

I would urge my colleagues to oppose this motion to recommit. Let's move the bill as originally proposed. It will do great things for America's children.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source