[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 9, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S100-S101]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                  Children's Health Insurance Program

  Mr. President, it has been 100 days since this Congress allowed the 
Children's Health Insurance Program to expire. Congress did nothing in 
September, October, November, and December, and now we are more than a 
week into January--100 days of anxiety for parents, 100 days of 
wondering if their kids will be kicked off their coverage, 100 days of 
worrying if they will be able to afford their child's prescriptions or 
worrying whether they can take them to the doctor if they get the flu.
  Members of Congress--new Members, such as Senators Smith and Jones, 
Members like Senator Hatch, who has been here for 40 years, and all of 
us--have healthcare paid for by taxpayers.
  We remember the discussion of the tax bill written down the hall in 
the office of Majority Leader McConnell. The Senate found plenty of 
time in December to pass a massive handout for corporations. The 
Presiding Officer, the Senator from Florida, has since questioned 
whether too much of this bill went to corporate interests. More than 80 
percent of the tax cut bill went to the richest 1 percent.
  In addition, we know it was a massive handout for corporations that 
sent jobs overseas. We are going to see more companies shut down in 
Mansfield, Lima, Zanesville, Chillicothe, Portsmouth, and in big cities 
like Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati. We are going to see more 
plants close and move overseas because this Senate and the House passed 
a tax bill that encourages more corporations to ship jobs overseas. All 
the while, this body couldn't be bothered to give families more than a 
short-term funding Band-Aid for CHIP, which experts have said will not 
even last the last 3 months they promised.
  I applaud the Presiding Officer, the Senator from Florida, for his 
efforts to enlarge at least some of the tax bill to put more money into 
the pockets of working families, particularly low-income working 
families. It was not enough, but at least some effort was made.
  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are reporting that 
some States will run out of money by January 19, next week. In my State 
of Ohio, 209,000 children rely on CHIP. Who are these kids? These are 
sons and daughters of Ohioans, who are working, in most cases, making 
$8, $10, or $12 an hour. They are the sons and daughters of parents who 
don't have insurance not because they aren't working as hard or harder 
than we do, but they don't have insurance simply because their parents 
happen to work at a job where they are not provided insurance.
  There are 209,000 Ohio children who rely on CHIP, a program that has 
been bipartisan for 20 years. It was without controversy in the past. 
Families in some States already got letters last year and early this 
year warning them that their children could lose their healthcare.

  Think about these families. The parents of some of these millions of 
children around the country come home from work, working in a $10-an-
hour job, not making a lot of money. They are working every bit as hard 
as we do. They go to the mailbox and see a letter from their State 
government. I will read one of these letters, a copy of which went to 
tens of thousands of parents: Because Congress has not acted yet, we 
need to let you know there is a chance that the CHIP Program may have 
to be shut down. In other words, there is a chance that your children's 
health insurance will be cut off.
  Remember, this is because of the inaction in this body. This is 
because Senators, who have insurance paid for by taxpayers, would 
rather vote for tax cuts, would rather do whatever we do all day 
instead of renewing the Children's Health Insurance Program.
  This letter goes on: If Congress does not renew Federal funds for 
CHIP in time, you will get another letter in January telling you your 
benefits will end.
  So first, it is a warning. Some parents got this warning right around 
Christmastime. They are already struggling financially. They are not 
giving their children nearly as much as they want for Christmas because 
they are making $8, $10, or $12 an hour. They are just trying to stay 
above water. They are just trying to raise their kids. They get a 
letter like this at Christmastime saying: If Congress doesn't act, 
there is really bad news; your kids are going to lose their insurance. 
Then the same letter says: If Congress doesn't act, in January you will 
get another letter saying your insurance is cut off.
  It is already an expensive time of year. There is record cold in 
Ohio. Several of our grandchildren live in Columbus, one of them in St. 
Croix, and two in Providence, RI. When a number of our grandchildren 
were around, it was too cold to go outside. It was that kind of winter 
in Ohio. The day after Christmas, temperatures dropped to single digits 
for 5, 6, or 7 days running. Families are paying more for their heating 
bill. At Christmastime, of course, it is more expensive. Now their 
government adds to this list of worries.
  How do they plan their budget for this year if they don't know 
whether or not they will have to shell out thousands of dollars more 
for care for their kids? Remember, 9 million children are at risk 
because of Republican inaction.
  Senator Portman, my Republican colleague from Ohio, and I and almost 
every other Senator on the Finance Committee voted to move forward on 
CHIP, to renew it for these 9 million children for 5 years. That was a 
good thing. It passed out of committee, but Senator McConnell, for 
whatever reason, didn't think this was important enough to actually put 
it on the floor, move on it, and get it to the President.
  I have no idea if the President will sign it. I don't think he knows 
much about the Children's Health Insurance Program, but I assume his 
advisers will say that it is probably a good idea to sign it. But he 
hasn't had a chance to sign it because the majority leader doesn't 
think this bill is important enough--that these 9 million children are 
important enough--that Congress should take action.
  These are often families with two working parents. They might make 
$8, $10, or $12 an hour, but they are working in jobs where they are 
not lucky enough to have health insurance. They work for companies or 
many for small businesses that, for whatever reason, can't afford it. 
Whatever the reason, they are working for companies that don't offer 
health insurance coverage

[[Page S101]]

for their families, or they are families with children with special 
needs.
  I have introduced to my colleagues before Crystal Lett. This is 
Crystal's son Noble, a first-grader in Dublin, OH, a small, prosperous 
suburb west and northwest of Columbus.
  I met Crystal and Noble last year, when they made the trip from Ohio 
to Washington to talk to Members of Congress about CHIP. Crystal's life 
is not easy because she is taking care of a child with a disability 
whom she so clearly and dearly loves. I could see, watching Noble, how 
much he loves his mother and how important they are to each other.
  Noble was born with a rare genetic disorder. He needs three therapy 
sessions every week. He gets daily hormone injections. His medications 
cost $1,500 a month. I talked to Crystal when she visited. I talked to 
her again. We talked about how she and her family are scared to death 
about what will happen to them if Congress doesn't save CHIP.
  This is not difficult. Congress has renewed it every year for 20 
years. It is bipartisan. It has never had much of any opposition. There 
are a lot of people like Noble's mother. Crystal said CHIP is ``the 
difference between living a middle class lifestyle, or being part of 
the poverty line.''
  Congress had time to hand out massive permanent tax cuts to the 
richest Americans and the biggest corporations that send job overseas, 
but it could only manage to scrape together just a little short-term 3 
months of funding for these families.
  It is really what is wrong with this city. Folks here listen too much 
to the lobbyists. I remember--and the Presiding Officer remembers, 
too--seeing the stream of lobbyists from drug companies, from insurance 
companies, from the big banks, and from the oil industry, in and out of 
Senator McConnell's office, writing a tax bill. We remember that from 
just a couple of months ago. But for some reason, Crystal and Noble 
couldn't get in that line--the line of lobbyists asking for huge tax 
breaks, saving billions of dollars for their employers while these 
lobbyists are paid very well. But, frankly, there was nobody having the 
political wherewithal to convince the majority leader that we ought to 
move on the CHIP bill.
  Healthcare for our kids shouldn't be controversial. It never was 
until this recent Senate and until this recent President was sworn in. 
It shouldn't be partisan. It should be easy. It is a program created 20 
years ago. It was bipartisan. It has always been bipartisan. It still 
has bipartisan support today, except that the Speaker of the House down 
the hall and the majority leader a little closer to us just simply 
don't want to pass it.
  We passed the CHIP extension out of the Finance Committee. It is 
ready to go. Republican leaders could put it on the floor today, and it 
would pass. I am guessing that it would pass with no more than 5 or 10 
``no'' votes.
  I want my colleagues to explain to Noble's mother Crystal and to 
explain to other mothers and fathers like her why corporate tax cuts 
are more important than their children's health.
  This is about whose side you are on. Do we work for the corporations 
that send our jobs overseas, do we work for those companies that line 
up hungrily for tax breaks, or do we work for families who just want 
the peace of mind so they can take their kids to the doctor?
  It is past time for folks in Congress, with taxpayer-funded 
healthcare, to do their jobs and extend CHIP. I don't want more 
families to get a letter like this from their capital city, from the 
Department of Welfare or the Department of Job and Family Services, 
whatever it is in each community in each State. I don't want any more 
parents to go to the mailbox, to open this letter, and to have that 
fear and anxiety hit them in their gut, thinking: Oh, my God, my 
children's health insurance may be canceled.
  We can do better than that.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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