[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23645]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      CHAMP ACT CHAMPIONS CHILDREN

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, for a decade now the Children's Health 
Insurance Program has provided 6 million children access to private 
health insurance. Thanks to CHIP, every year over the last decade, the 
number of uninsured children fell. That is until the last 2 years.
  Last week, the Census Bureau reported that the number of American 
children living without health insurance increased from 8 million in 
2005 to 8.7 million in 2006. This is simply unacceptable.
  I would hope President Bush saw these troubling numbers and finally 
realized we cannot afford to ignore them any longer. Last month, this 
Democratic House acted by passing the CHAMP Act, legislation that will 
allow us to reach an additional 5 million children who are already 
eligible for the CHIP program.
  When CHIP was created back in 1997, it was supported by both 
Democrats and Republicans. But today, both the White House and the 
House Republican leadership oppose the CHAMP Act.
  Mr. Speaker, the Census Bureau report should serve as a wake-up call 
to the President to reconsider his veto threat of the CHAMP Act.

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