[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 29, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    DEADLINE LOOMS FOR GOP LEADERS TO ACT ON CHILDREN'S HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues probably know, over 10 
million American children are without health insurance, and Democrats 
have been aware of this growing problem for some time. Unfortunately, 
the Republican leadership has been full of inaction. Since the 
beginning of the 105th Republican-controlled Congress, an additional 
372,900 children have lost private health coverage, according to the 
Children's Defense Fund. Essentially this has been due to inaction by 
the Republican leadership.
  But at the same time, Republicans in the House Committee on 
Appropriations voted down an amendment last week that fully met the 
President's funding request for women, infant, and children, the WIC 
Program. This nutrition program has been cited as one of the most 
successful Federal programs, and I have to say that I have witnessed 
this firsthand. I have been in some of the places where people have 
signed up for the WIC Program. It has been responsible for reducing low 
birth weight, infant mortality and anemia, while improving the diets of 
mothers and children.
  The WIC Program has a proven track record in providing preventive 
health care benefits. According to the General Accounting Office, each 
dollar invested in the prenatal component of WIC averts $3.50 of 
Medicaid and other spending.
  Instead, the Republicans have voted to cut 180,000 participants of 
this program by this September. Some States like California, for 
example, are already directing health clinics to deny WIC benefits to 
children.
  Mr. Speaker, I consider these cuts in the WIC Program to be 
unacceptable. Democrats support the President's funding request for WIC 
because we understand the value of early intervention and prevention in 
health care. It would appear that the Republican leadership does not.
  The WIC Program that the Democrats are concerned about is just 
basically another example of how we can address, through preventive 
measures, children's health care. When we talk about the problem of 
children's health care and the number of uninsured growing, at least if 
we were involved in trying to support and back up the WIC Program, we 
would be able to say that we were doing something and continuing to do 
at least a decent job with preventive care for children.
  It is relatively inexpensive, and I have said this many times on the 
House floor, to provide health care for children, and there are many 
approaches to achieving this. Many legislative proposals are 
circulating that reduce the number of uninsured children and assist 
families in providing for their children's health care needs.
  I have introduced legislation that mirrors the Hatch-Kennedy proposal 
by providing block grants to the States to help families afford 
coverage for their children. Under this proposal, States would have the 
flexibility to administer the program and use innovative methods unique 
to their particular State. The only requirement is that children's 
health care plans must be comparable to Medicaid, meaning the inclusion 
of important and cost-saving preventive benefits.
  I have to say that the Kennedy-Hatch proposal is only one option that 
is being offered by Democrats or others on a bipartisan basis. There 
are many others to choose from, singularly or in combination. But 
instead of talking about these proposals, the Republican leadership 
barely acknowledges the problem of uninsured children and appears to be 
stonewalling against it.
  I think a good start for the Republican leadership would be to 
support full funding for WIC when it comes to the House floor for a 
vote. Their next move should be to move children's health care 
legislation through the committee process by Mother's Day, as Democrats 
have urged.
  Congress should be expanding health care options for children, not 
making matters worse by cutting children's nutrition programs. I just 
hope, and I urge that my Republican colleagues will join with us to 
make sure that the WIC Program is adequately funded. At least that 
would be a beginning to dealing with the issue of preventive care for 
children, and then we can at least show that there is support, I 
believe, on a bipartisan basis ultimately for passing a piece of 
legislation that will cover all, if not most, of the 10 million 
children that are now uninsured.

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