[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 18 (Thursday, January 25, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S515-S516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CHIP and Community Health Centers
Madam President, Congress finally did the right thing, after having
failed to do the right thing in September and October and November and
December and early January, by reauthorizing the Children's Health
Insurance Program. The bill passed out of the Senate Finance Committee
with only one ``no'' vote. The Children's Health Insurance Program has
been around for 20 years, and it has always been bipartisan.
There are 209,000 children in Ohio who benefit from the Children's
Health Insurance Program. These are children--sons and daughters--of
parents who generally work full time but who only make $8 or $10 or $12
an hour. These families often don't have insurance themselves, but the
Children's Health Insurance Program will provide insurance for those
children.
It is particularly aggravating to many of us that so many Members of
Congress--all of us who have health insurance provided by taxpayers--
failed to continue the program, which has always been bipartisan, in
September, when the program expired, as well as in October and November
and December. Now, as our vote the other day demonstrated, the
Children's Health Insurance Program will be around for 6 more years as
we continue to make improvements with it. The problem is, while we
provide insurance for 6 more years for these 209,000 children in Ohio
and 9 million children all over the country, we
[[Page S516]]
haven't, in so many cases, provided the place and the environment for
these parents to take their children.
One big shortcoming is Congress's refusal to do its job to
reauthorize the community health centers, the so-called federally
qualified health centers. My State is home to several dozen federally
qualified community health centers. They provide all kinds of
healthcare services, in many cases, including pediatric, dentistry, all
kinds of preventive care, all kinds of emergency care, and other help
for so many families, particularly for low-income families, in their
neighborhoods, where this can make a difference.
I want to briefly share three letters to illustrate the importance of
this.
Stephanie Wiersma, the CEO of Lorain County Health & Dentistry, wrote
to me 2 weeks ago before we passed the most recent continuing
resolution:
We desperately plod on, doing all the right things for our
health centers and patients, yet for months we have been in
limbo and, frankly, sick with fear.
I worry about the impact on my staff and patients. I know
the impact on recruitment of providers . . . what
professional wants to chance a funding crisis to come work
for a health center at this point in time?
Open provider positions means less access to care, plain
and simple. Access is especially important now with all the
flu and illness going around.
What Stephanie is saying is that when Congress doesn't do its job--
when all of us who have health insurance that is paid for by taxpayers
fail to do our jobs--these community health centers, which are
professionally run and close to home for so many families, cannot plan
for the future. They cannot recruit a physical therapist or a pediatric
dentist or an internist or a family practice doctor. Is a professional
provider, who has invested a lot of money in her education, going to
want to go to a health center where Congress simply doesn't do its job
in providing funding? I think Stephanie wrote that so very well.
Jared Pollick, CEO of Third Street Family Health Services in my
hometown of Mansfield, wrote:
It is nearly impossible to make sound strategic decisions
for our organizations without the security of our funding. We
are always told both sides of the aisle love Community Health
Centers. We really need them to show it with funding.
That is exactly right. I have heard my Republican colleagues talk
almost ad nauseam about how much they like the Children's Health
Insurance Program, how much they like the community health centers, and
I think they really in their guts do. But then Senator McConnell and
the Republican leadership let them expire on September 30, did nothing
in October, nothing in November, nothing in December. They did a tax
cut for the rich. We know that, but they didn't reauthorize, didn't
provide additional significant, predictable, sufficient funding for the
community health centers or the Children's Health Insurance Program. A
week ago, finally, we did the Children's Health Insurance Program, but
we left hanging the community health centers.
The last letter is from Julie DiRossi-King, chief operating officer
for the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers, which represents
512 health centers in Ohio. She said:
We have hit that critical point . . . that the Community
Health Center Program as we know and rely on it today will
soon be on life support. There literally is no room for
additional delay.
I appreciate that Congress finally did the right thing on the
Children's Health Insurance Program. I ask Congress to do what is right
for the community health centers. It will literally save lives and will
matter for so many families in my State and States all over the
country.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all time be
yielded back on both sides and the Senate proceed to the vote.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the James
nomination?
Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the
Senator from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from Tennessee (Mr.
Corker), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), the Senator from Kansas
(Mr. Moran), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch), and the Senator from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).
Mr. SCHUMER. I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr.
Blumenthal), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey), the Senator
from Illinois (Mr. Durbin), and the Senator from Missouri (Mrs.
McCaskill), are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 89, nays 1, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 24 Ex.]
YEAS--89
Alexander
Baldwin
Barrasso
Bennet
Blunt
Booker
Boozman
Brown
Cantwell
Capito
Cardin
Carper
Cassidy
Cochran
Collins
Coons
Cornyn
Cortez Masto
Cotton
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Donnelly
Duckworth
Enzi
Ernst
Feinstein
Fischer
Flake
Gardner
Gillibrand
Graham
Grassley
Harris
Hassan
Hatch
Heinrich
Heitkamp
Heller
Hirono
Hoeven
Inhofe
Isakson
Johnson
Jones
Kaine
Kennedy
King
Klobuchar
Lankford
Leahy
Lee
Manchin
Markey
McConnell
Menendez
Merkley
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Nelson
Paul
Perdue
Peters
Portman
Reed
Roberts
Rounds
Rubio
Sasse
Schatz
Schumer
Scott
Shaheen
Shelby
Smith
Stabenow
Sullivan
Tester
Thune
Tillis
Udall
Van Hollen
Warner
Warren
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
Young
NAYS--1
Sanders
NOT VOTING--10
Blumenthal
Burr
Casey
Corker
Durbin
McCain
McCaskill
Moran
Risch
Toomey
The nomination was confirmed.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the President
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.
The Senator from Alaska.
____________________