[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 147 (Monday, October 20, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H9703-H9704]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             AMENDING TITLE XXI OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT

  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 3288) to amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to make 
technical corrections with respect to the definition of qualifying 
State.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 3288

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS RELATING TO THE DEFINITION 
                   OF QUALIFYING STATE UNDER TITLE XXI OF THE 
                   SOCIAL SECURITY ACT.

       Effective as if included in the enactment of Public Law 
     108-74, section 2105(g)(2) of the Social Security Act, as 
     added by section 1(b) of such Act, is amended--
       (1) by striking ``185'' the first place it appears and 
     inserting ``184'';
       (2) by inserting ``August 1, 1994, or'' before ``July 1, 
     1995''; and
       (3) by inserting before the period at the end the 
     following: ``, or, in the case of a State that had a 
     statewide waiver in effect under section 1115 with respect to 
     title XIX that was first implemented on October 1, 1993, had 
     an income eligibility standard under such waiver for children 
     that was at least 185 percent of the poverty line and on and 
     after July 1, 1998, has an income eligibility standard for 
     children under section 1902(a)(10)(A) or a statewide waiver 
     in effect under section 1115 with respect to title XIX that 
     is at least 185 percent of the poverty line''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Upton) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton).


                             General Leave

  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on H.R. 3288.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3288 and urge swift 
passage of this bipartisan bill. H.R. 3288 corrects technical errors in 
the recently enacted State Children's Health Insurance Program, S-CHIP, 
legislation. This important legislation extended the availability of 
State S-CHIP allotments from prior years to allow States to use this 
money to continue to provide health care coverage for children. The 
bill also permitted certain States that had previously covered children 
with higher incomes through their Medicaid program prior to the 
creation of S-CHIP to use a small portion of their S-CHIP allotments to 
pay for the costs associated with covering these children.
  Unfortunately, a definition included in the new S-CHIP law 
inadvertently excluded a number of States. As a result, New Mexico, 
Maryland, Hawaii, and Rhode Island were barred from being able to use 
their allotments to pay for the expenses of their kids with higher 
incomes.
  It was always the intent of the sponsors of the S-CHIP legislation 
that these States would be allowed to use their money in this way. For 
that reason, my chairman, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin), 
and the ranking member, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell), 
introduced H.R. 3288, which amends the definition of eligible States to 
correct the technical error.
  I would urge all Members to unanimously support this bipartisan bill, 
which would allow these States to use a portion of their S-CHIP 
allotments to provide health coverage for their low-income children.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I also rise in support of H.R. 3288. First, I also want 
to thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Chairman Tauzin) and our ranking 
member, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell), for working in a 
spirit of bipartisan cooperation on this issue. Our Committee on Energy 
and Commerce has repeatedly worked together to deal with issues related 
to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or S-CHIP.

                              {time}  1530

  As recently as July, we developed a compromise to protect health care 
coverage for hundreds of thousands of children under the SCHIP program.
  The SCHIP program was enacted in 1997 and currently provides health 
care coverage to approximately 4.3 million children, but there have 
been some growing pains. The State funding allotment mechanism has not 
worked perfectly. And, as a result, some States have been left with 
excess funding and others with too little funding.
  In July, we passed legislation that preserved the nearly $1.2 billion 
of funding intended for children's health insurance coverage from 
returning to the Treasury, not for lack of need but

[[Page H9704]]

as a result of these problems with the funding allocation.
  In addition, the bill passed in July extended, for one additional 
year, the availability of $1.5 billion in SCHIP funds from fiscal 
years' 2000 and 2001 allotments, thereby allowing 50 percent of each 
year's unspent money to be retained by States that have not used their 
entire allotment.
  The remaining 50 percent of unspent money was distributed to States 
that have spent all of their respective year's allotment, and New 
Jersey is one of those states.
  Finally, the bill allowed certain States to use a portion of their 
unspent funds for children covered through Medicaid.
  Mr. Speaker, unfortunately there were technical errors in that bill 
which inadvertently excluded New Mexico, Maryland, Hawaii, and Rhode 
Island. And as a result these four States were unable to receive their 
portions of these allotments which assisted them in providing health 
coverage to the children of their State. Neither the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin) nor the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) 
intended this to happen so they introduced H.R. 3288 to correct this 
technical error.
  Again, I want to thank the chairman for his efforts to move this 
legislation forward to make it possible for these four States to 
receive their allotment and protect health care for children under 
SCHIP. I hope that the Senate will act quickly, so that we can get this 
bill to the President's desk and expedite the flow of needed funding 
for children's health care.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boozman). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3288.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. UPTON. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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