[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 161 (Tuesday, October 23, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H11851-H11852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
   SPENDING FOR CHIP VERSUS SPENDING IN IRAQ--IT'S ALL A QUESTION OF 
                               PRIORITIES

  (Mr. HODES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HODES. Madam Speaker, last week the rubber stamp Republicans in 
this House once again held true to their name by voting to stand with 
the President and reject health care coverage for 10 million American 
children. The spending priorities of the President's Republican allies 
in the House are simply out of line with the priorities of the American 
people. In fact, the 86 percent of Americans who support this 
bipartisan CHIP reauthorization might be interested to know that for 
the cost of just 37 days in Iraq, we could provide health care coverage 
to 10 million children. Yet the President's irresponsible, open-ended 
commitment to the occupation in Iraq continues, while the number of 
American children without access to health care keeps climbing.
  Madam Speaker, yesterday the President asked Congress to borrow 
another $196 billion to continue his failed blank-check, no-plan policy 
in Iraq. But he and his Republican friends in

[[Page H11852]]

this body apparently feel that spending $35 billion on a highly 
successful program that provides health care to uninsured children is 
excessive.
  It's time for Republicans to stop blindly following the President and 
start helping American families.

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