[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 149 (Wednesday, October 3, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H11174]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF THE SCHIP EXTENSION
(Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to address the House
for 1 minute.)
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, the deed is done. The President just
vetoed the Children's Health Insurance Program. He is asking for $190
billion for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and yet vetoed $35 billion
that would provide health care to 10 million low-income American
children over the next 5 years.
Let's be perfectly clear. The President is refusing to spend $7
billion a year on children's health while insisting on $10 billion a
month in Iraq. The President and Republicans in Congress say that we
can't afford this bill, but where were the fiscal conservatives when
the President demanded hundreds of billions of dollars for the war in
Iraq? He along with many of the Republicans in Congress are willing to
throw these hundreds of billions of dollars into a disastrous war, and
yet when it comes to providing health care to children, they say we
don't have the money.
The truth is we do have the money and, in fact, the children's health
bill is fully paid for, unlike the half a trillion dollars we have
already spent on this war.
It is time for us to say you are either for covering uninsured
American children or you are with a President who prefers to spend this
money on an endless war.
____________________