[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 209 (Thursday, December 21, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8240-S8241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I also wish to talk about something 
tonight that was not accomplished. It was not accomplished in this vote 
we just had, which was the continuing resolution that keeps the 
government funded until January.
  Some of us pushed hard to include various things in this legislation. 
I understand that some of these items are controversial, and it was 
hard to get it done because you needed 60 votes tonight. You needed a 
bipartisan consensus on how to move forward and not shut down the 
government.
  I am not a fan of government shutdowns. They don't work. They are 
inefficient. They cost the taxpayer more at the end of the day, and 
they cause a lot of pain in the process.
  We had the opportunity to pass certain things tonight that were not 
controversial. I don't understand why we didn't do it. Some issues, I 
understand on the spending front, were more controversial. I understand 
some issues were more controversial in terms of how you deal with the 
immigration issue. The DACA issue is one that I support resolving. I 
think we should codify it and resolve that. There were different points 
of view. People wanted to add different things there.

[[Page S8241]]

  Let me tell you about one where I don't think there was any 
disagreement. If we could have passed it tonight, it would have 
provided a lot of certainty and predictability to families in Ohio and 
around the country. It is one that passed my committee, the Finance 
Committee, by a strong vote--not a bipartisan vote but a unanimous 
vote. That is the Children's Health Insurance Program, or the CHIP 
program. We passed it with a unanimous vote out of committee.
  People say: Well, we need to find pay-fors for it. It is about $8 
billion to do what we did, which is a 5-year extension of the program, 
providing certainty and predictability to families who tonight are 
wondering what is going to happen to this program. Are my kids going to 
have the kind of quality healthcare they can access through the 
Children's Health Program, or the CHIP program?
  There are some pay-fors out there that are, again, bipartisan. A big 
one, which would cover nearly half of that cost, is one where you 
simply ensure that the Medicaid Program has more integrity. So if a 
third-party payer is paying, the Medicaid Program doesn't pay for it. 
It is a bipartisan issue, and there is an initiative we looked at for 
this program and could have used.
  I don't get this notion that we couldn't pass it because we couldn't 
find the pay-fors. The pay-fors were there. I don't get it that this 
was controversial, because it is not. I believe that on both sides of 
the aisle, we wanted to resolve the Children's Health Insurance 
Program.
  Again, with all the other issues, I understand. It is tough when you 
have to get to 60 votes and get this passed in order to keep the 
government operating, which is not a situation we should be in, but we 
are in. I must tell you, I am very disappointed we were not able to 
deal with this one issue tonight that has not been controversial and 
that came out of the committee with a unanimous vote--not bipartisan 
but unanimous.
  CHIP now helps 219,000 Ohio children get the health coverage they 
need and 9 million children nationwide. Ohio has the tenth largest 
program, and CHIP has been a leading cause in driving the insurance 
rate down for Ohio kids. In the case of my home State, we have seen our 
CHIP funding being questioned because the program was authorized until 
the end of September. Now it is no longer authorized. We are not sure 
exactly how much money we have left. We think we have enough to get 
into February in Ohio. Some States are worried about even getting into 
January.
  Tonight, there was a short-term extension that, as I understand it, 
will take the program into February, but again, it doesn't provide that 
long-term certainty that families are looking for.
  I must tell you that I am disappointed from what I hear about the 
reasons, because I asked on both sides of the aisle, and one reason I 
got--- again, this was leadership on both sides of the aisle--is that 
we can't do it unless we do other things with it. It is called CHIP--
Children's Health Insurance Program--but it shouldn't be a political 
chip. It should be taken out of politics. It should be something that 
we deal with separately.
  I will just tell you that using it as leverage for other programs is 
not the way I am going to look at it and not the way we should look at 
it. We should have passed it tonight. We should have passed it to help 
protect some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Funding 
should be a top priority, regardless of your partisan position and 
regardless of the political climate. It should be out of the political 
fray.
  I urge my colleagues, when we come back after the first of the year, 
let's make that a priority. Let's bring it to the floor. Let's have a 
vote. Let's keep it bipartisan. Maybe, it could even be unanimous. 
Let's give those families in Ohio--the 219,000 kids who depend on it--
and the millions of families around this country the peace of mind to 
know that we are extending this program.
  Let's do that 5-year extension, that 5-year authorization we already 
passed in committee. Let's take it out of this political process and 
put it where it belongs, which is an issue that every single Member of 
this body should want to address for the kids they represent.
  I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight on the tax reform and 
tax cut legislation. I do think it will provide the opportunity for 
everybody I represent to have a better future and a brighter future.
  I appreciate the opportunity to talk on the Children's Health 
Insurance Program.

                          ____________________