[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.

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