[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 155 (Monday, October 15, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H11536]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               STATE CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kagen) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KAGEN. Mr. Speaker, we've been talking the last several weeks 
here in Congress about the SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance 
Program. This is the SCHIP face I'd like to show America. Before I 
discuss with you in the next several minutes the SCHIP program, I'd 
like to show you the face of Kailee Meronek from Appleton. I represent 
her. She's not here to speak for herself, so I have the great honor and 
duty of speaking on her behalf. She has a younger sister who is 3 
months of age, and a young mother who's earning $2.33 an hour at a 
restaurant. She qualifies for SCHIP. She has benefited from SCHIP; and 
because she is covered by this state-run program, she sees her doctor 
in the doctor's office and not in the emergency room. Kailee needs our 
help and she needs our support. She will some day have to pay for a war 
that is costing the American taxpayers $400 million a day. And yet 
we're not even paying for this war. The occupation of Iraq is being 
paid for by borrowed money from China that Kailee and her younger 
sister, Cassidy, will have to pay back some day.
  The SCHIP program is a state-run program that's been very successful. 
We aim to reauthorize this program and expand its coverage to all 
children in America who are eligible. That's up to about 10.8 million 
to 11 million children who are the lowest income strata in the country.
  The SCHIP program will focus on the working families who need the 
help the most. It will guarantee access to health care at the doctor's 
office, not at the expensive emergency room. If anyone listening thinks 
that SCHIP is not a good deal, you're going to spend much more money 
taking care of Kailee and her family at the emergency room than at the 
doctor.
  SCHIP reduces your taxes. It cuts the cost of caring for families who 
are most in need.
  How about the money? $3.50 a day. Kailee is not asking for that 
money; she deserves it.
  What kind of Nation are we? What kind of Nation would turn their back 
on Kailee and Cassidy and their mother, Wendy? Not this America.
  I want my country back. I want a country that still cares about 
people more than corporations. I want a country that respects its laws 
and obeys all of its laws, including signing statements. We don't need 
signing statements. We need someone in our offices in the 
administration who cares about people.
  Kailee and her sister, Cassidy, need our help. I'm asking all 
Republicans, all Democrats, forget your party leadership. Forget your 
association with your party. Think about the people you represent, like 
this young girl.
  We aim to cover 57,778 people in Wisconsin on the SCHIP program, and 
hope to expand it another 37,000. We do it in a fair way, in a way 
that's called pay-as-you-go, not like our occupation of Iraq. We're 
going to pay as we go.
  I ask America tonight to put a human face on the SCHIP program. Help 
Kailee. Support Kailee, her sister and her family and everyone in this 
country who needs our help.
  What kind of Nation are we? We'll find out on Thursday. America is 
listening.
  My colleagues, Mr. Speaker, I ask you to support the SCHIP bill and 
override the Presidential veto.

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