Politics

House Sends State Children?s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act To President

By Karina

By a vote of 290-135, the House passed legislation to concur with the Senate amendments to H.R. 2, State Children?s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act, sending the bill to the President?s desk for his signature. This legislation reauthorizes and improves SCHIP. The Senate-passed version is very similar to the bill that the House passed on January 14 by a vote of 289-139. SCHIP was created in 1997 to provide health care coverage for children in modest-income families that earn too much for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance. Over the last ten years, it has proven to be a successful and cost-effective program for providing health care.

Chairman Waxman (D-CA):

Rep. Waxman: “This bill is going to pass by an overwhelming bipartisan majority as it passed in the last Congress as well. At least twice. But the difference is this bill will be signed tonight by the President of the United States. President Bush vetoed this children’s health bill twice.”

Rep. Pallone (D-NJ):

Rep. Pallone: “There can be no greater cause or worthier goal than protecting the well-being of our nation’s children. I emphasize this point now because in a recession parents are forced to make tough financial decisions. Do they keep their family’s health insurance or do they put food on the table at night? And today we have an extraordinary opportunity to ensure that these children don’t fall through the cracks. This is a very good bill. With its passage, 11 million children will have access to the health care coverage they need to live healthy and strong lives, and these children are our nation’s future.”

Rep. Dingell (D-MI):

Rep. Dingell: “High health care costs are straining already strapped families nationwide. Nowhere is this truer than my home state of Michigan where unemployment now tops 10%. With families struggling to save for retirement, to save for college, to pay mortgages and bills, this legislation will help state governments provide health care to children who otherwise would be left out.”

Chairman Rangel (D-NY):

Rep. Rangel: “There’s not a weekend that goes by that I don?t thank God for three grandchildren and not have to worry that if anything, God forbid, happens to them that at least we know they have access to health care. Reminded me when I was a young father and how precious my son and daughter was. And then you think of the millions of people that go to work every day not being able to concentrate on their jobs of being productive and competitive but thinking, what would happen if their child became ill.”

Rep. Schakowsky (D-IL):

Rep. Schakowsky: “I’m also pleased that after many thwarted efforts we finally have a President that will sign this bill into law. It represents a renewed commitment to health care. This is the first step in making sure that every child, woman, and man in the United States has health care that’s affordable, accessible, and high quality.”

Rep. McDermott (D-WA):

Rep. McDermott: “The opportunity to have health care is humane in the very strongest sense of that word. How anybody can vote against this? I have no idea. After you have wasted $1 trillion on a war in Iraq and have the real estate industry totally out of control and then you say to the children you can’t see a doctor -what kind of body is this if we don’t take care of children?”

Rep. Baldwin (D-WI):

Rep. Baldwin: “This legislation will give 4.1 million uninsured children meaningful access to health care. And now we must move forward to cover the millions more who suffer every day due to lack of health insurance. Today we must enact SCHIP legislation, tomorrow we must move forward to bring health care coverage to every American.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).