[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 144 (Wednesday, September 26, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12091-S12092]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          CHIP REAUTHORIZATION

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, 10 years ago the Senate created the 
Children's Health Insurance Program to help States provide health 
coverage for low-income kids across America. It is known as CHIP. It 
provides cost-effective health coverage to millions of kids. It is 
truly the biggest success story in health care in America in the past 
decade. We have reduced the number of uninsured children in our Nation 
by one-third. With the help of the CHIP program, my State of Illinois 
launched a statewide initiative to cover all kids, setting an important 
precedent for other States to follow. Over 300,000 kids in Illinois 
have insurance, but there are still thousands more we need to reach.
  The 15 million uninsured children in America in 1997 are now 9 
million nationwide. That is still far too many. Unfortunately, the Bush 
administration does not view the Senate bill as the carefully crafted 
compromise it is but sees it as a threat--in their words, ``a step down 
the path of government-run health care for every American.'' Let me 
assure them, this bill falls far short of anything resembling universal

[[Page S12092]]

coverage. It leaves millions of kids still without health insurance and 
millions of working parents and working adults in a similar uninsured 
status. But it is progress.
  The President's proposal to add just $5 billion over the next 5 years 
isn't enough. At that level, hundreds of thousands of people will 
likely lose coverage. At that level, we start moving backward, pushing 
kids and families out of coverage and increasing the number of 
uninsured. This is no surprise. This President has seen a dramatic 
increase of uninsured children for the first time since 1998, since he 
took office. The number of uninsured children rose to 8.7 million in 
2006, up from 8 million in 2005--a 9-percent increase in 1 year.
  It is time to reauthorize the children's health program before it 
expires in a few days. What this bill does is strengthen a successful 
bipartisan program.
  It allows States to cover more than 9 million children who do not 
have health insurance. The compromise bill will allow 6.6 million 
children to maintain coverage and allow States to reach almost 4 
million more. The House and Senate have worked out a delicate 
bipartisan compromise. We know it is time to put party labels aside and 
do something about health care, particularly for our children.
  How do we pay for it? It is an honest question, and a good one. The 
investment in the Children's Health Insurance Program is paid for by 
increasing the Federal tax on cigarettes, with proportional increases 
for other tobacco products.
  I know there are some people who think this is unfair to smokers. But 
I have to tell them, their habit, their addiction to nicotine and 
tobacco comes at great expense not only to them personally but to this 
Nation. We know higher tobacco prices will make it less likely kids 
will use tobacco products. So it is a win-win situation. You see, if 
these tobacco companies do not hook our kids at an early age, while 
they are still kids and have not thought it through, they might never 
get them addicted.
  So you see, the vast majority of smokers today started smoking before 
the age of 16. The addiction starts, and it doesn't end until one out 
of three of them die from this tobacco addiction.
  What stops a kid from smoking? Well, sometimes good parental advice 
or more--and a high price. When tobacco costs a lot of money, kids 
don't buy it. It is a simple fact. It is economics. If there is one 
thing you want to do to stop kids from becoming addicted to tobacco, 
raise the price of the product. Each time you raise it a nickel or a 
dime or a quarter or 50 cents, you end up with fewer kids smoking. That 
is what is going to happen. So we will not only raise money from the 
tobacco tax to pay for health insurance for kids, we will have fewer 
kids addicted to tobacco.
  In a poll conducted for the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, two-
thirds of those interviewed--67 percent--favor this tax increase across 
America; 28 percent oppose it. Moreover, nearly half--49 percent--
strongly favor it. Only 20 percent strongly oppose it.
  It is the right thing to do for our kids' health and for the public's 
health. We have had good, bipartisan cooperation on this measure. It 
has been our highest priority since the Democrats took control of 
Congress at the beginning of this year. We have tried to work together, 
and we have worked together successfully.
  I want to especially salute, on our side of the aisle, Senator Max 
Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee, who has been working on this 
very closely with Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa. 
Senator Grassley, Senator Hatch, and others have really shown 
extraordinary political courage in coming together to support this 
measure.
  Now we have to convince the President. The President said in his 
statement last week:

       Members of Congress are putting health coverage for poor 
     children at risk so they can score political points in 
     Washington.

  Well, I am sorry to say I disagree with the President on this. We are 
working with the President's party, many Republicans in the Senate and 
in the House, to improve this important program.
  Last night, on the House floor, there was a vote on this program, 265 
to 159. Forty-five Republicans joined almost all of the Democratic 
House Members in support. It is a shame the President refuses to 
consider the needs of millions of families who would be benefited from 
additional children's health insurance coverage.
  Let me close by saying a word about the cost of this program. This 
program is likely to cost us $6 billion a year. Mr. President, $6 
billion is a substantial sum of money to add more children to health 
insurance coverage. Measure that $6 billion a year against this war--a 
war that costs us $12 billion a month, a war for which this President 
will come and ask $200 billion in the next 2 weeks.
  But this measure that costs $6 billion a year is an amount of money 
that pales in comparison with what the President is going to ask us to 
continue to spend on the war in Iraq. His request will be near $200 
billion. Mr. President, $200 billion for a war in Iraq, $200 billion 
for helping the people of Iraq, the President believes we can afford. 
But he argues we cannot afford $6 billion for more health insurance for 
America's children.
  I believe a strong America begins at home. It begins with strong 
schools and strong families and strong communities and strong 
neighborhoods. And it begins with health care--health care to bring 
peace of mind to parents who otherwise worry that tomorrow that earache 
may turn into something worse, or a strep throat or a child struggling 
with asthma or diabetes.
  These are kids who need basic health protection and do not have it 
today. They are not the poorest of the poor. Those kids already have 
help from our Government. These kids I am talking about are the 
children of working families, working families who, unfortunately, have 
no health insurance at their workplace. We are trying to expand the 
coverage of health insurance.
  The President says it is unfair to private health insurance companies 
for us to expand this program. I could not disagree more. Private 
health insurance companies are doing quite well. They do not need any 
more help from us. The fact that these kids do not have health 
insurance suggests these private health insurance companies either 
cannot or will not provide them the coverage they need.
  I urge my colleagues, when the measure comes over from the House of 
Representatives--which it should momentarily--that we should support 
it, and I hope with numbers that say to the President: Please, for the 
sake of this country, for the sake of our families, and for the sake of 
the kids--the millions of kids who will have health insurance 
coverage--please, do not veto this important children's health 
insurance bill.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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