[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 179 (Friday, November 3, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H8449]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ENSURING THE HEALTH OF OUR NATION'S CHILDREN

  (Mr. BROWN of Maryland asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BROWN of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, 20 years ago, Congress enacted 
with strong, bipartisan support the Children's Health Insurance 
Program.
  It fulfilled one of the highest responsibilities we have, which is to 
ensure the health and well-being of our Nation's children. Children 
without health insurance are less healthy, they go to the emergency 
room for chronic conditions like asthma and diabetes, and they do worse 
in school.
  The program is extremely successful, increasing insurance coverage 
for children to 95 percent nationwide. Because of this, 138,000 
Maryland children--and more than 8 million around the country--have 
received routine checkups, vaccinations, sick visits, prescriptions, 
dental and vision care, and emergency services.
  We should not only reauthorize CHIP but work together to ensure every 
child in America has insurance.
  Instead, the Republican Party is breaking the history of 
bipartisanship that CHIP has long enjoyed. Republicans are forcing us 
to choose between insuring kids and taking away coverage from 700,000 
low-income Americans, raising premiums on seniors, and cutting the 
Prevention and Public Health Fund.
  Mr. Speaker, let's stop playing politics with the healthcare of our 
children.

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