[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 143 (Tuesday, September 25, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H10762]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CHILDREN'S HEALTH CARE COVERAGE

  (Mr. CUELLAR asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago, in a bipartisan manner, 
Congress enacted the Children's Health Insurance Program to provide 
health coverage to those who need it the most. Since that time it's 
been a success story providing health care coverage to 6 million 
children.
  When I was a member of the Texas State legislature, I had an 
opportunity to help implement the first CHIP program in the State of 
Texas there in Laredo. Again, it's a story that's worked very well.
  In fact, as the program grew, the number of uninsured children in our 
Nation has dropped dramatically, even though child poverty was on the 
rise and many of the families were losing their employer-based health 
coverage.
  Unfortunately, this trend has started to reverse itself. For 2 years 
in a row the number of uninsured children has increased. There are now 
8.7 million children in our Nation who are uninsured. Those numbers are 
a clear sign that Congress needs to pass a bipartisan agreement that 
was reached last week and will be on the floor today that will provide 
access to quality health insurance to 10 million low-income children.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a bipartisan agreement. Again, Democrats and 
Republicans need to come together for the Nation's children.

                          ____________________