    [Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 10, 2018)]
    [House]
    [Page H91]
    From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                     LET'S TAKE CARE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN

      (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House
    for 1 minute.)
      Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, there is no greater responsibility that
    we have than the health and well-being of America's children. The
    Children's Health Insurance Program has been a huge success. In just a
    few weeks, funding for this program will run out in my home State of
    Rhode Island.
      This is a program that has provided health insurance to 9 million
    children from working families in this country, 27,000 children and
    pregnant women in my home State of Rhode Island. It has always been a
    bipartisan issue. This program has been a huge success. It brought the
    rate of uninsured children down from almost 14 percent when the program
    began to 4\1/2\ percent today.
      And why haven't we reauthorized this program yet that ensures the
    health and well-being of America's children?
      We just passed--or the Republicans just passed--a $1.5 trillion tax
    cut for the richest people in this country, the biggest corporations,
    unpaid for. But we can't manage to find money to reauthorize the
    Children's Health Insurance Program?
      I urge the Republican leadership in this Chamber to bring a clean
    reauthorization bill to the floor so we can reauthorize this effective
    and important program and take care of America's children.

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