[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 178 (Thursday, November 2, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H8393-H8394]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM

  (Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank 
the Houston Astros for winning the World Series and giving some folks 
in Houston and southeast Texas something to cheer about. We have had a 
tough few months, but you could see from last night that there is a lot 
of cheering in Houston.
  But I am here to talk about a major issue that is really important: 
the Children's Health Insurance Program--the CHIP program--and the 
federally qualified health centers. Both programs are bedrocks of our 
health system, providing health insurance for over 9 million lower 
income children, and serving on the front lines of primary care, 
providing high-quality primary and preventative care for 25 million 
Americans.
  Congress let funding for these programs expire more than a month ago, 
and we must act in a bipartisan manner to strengthen and sustain them. 
Both CHIP and community health centers have always had strong 
bipartisan

[[Page H8394]]

support since their creation 20 and 50 years ago, respectively, but not 
this time.
  We should not cut Medicaid to fund these two programs. You are taking 
money away from the poorest children to give to the less poor children. 
We need to support vaccination programs, infectious disease detection 
and prevention, and chronic disease prevention. We need to make sure 
this bill is bipartisan, and it is not right now.

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