[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 25227]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., 
wrote: ``The time is always ripe to do right.''
  This week, the time is ripe to do right by America's children.
  Last Friday, my colleagues and I unveiled a strong, bicameral 
agreement to renew and improve the Children's Health Insurance Program.
  CHIP covers kids whose parents don't qualify for Medicaid, but who 
cannot afford costly private insurance.
  CHIP works to get health coverage to uninsured kids in America's 
working families.
  The agreement we reached to renew CHIP will make sure that more than 
6\1/2\ million children with health coverage today will keep that 
coverage.
  The agreement we reached will make sure that millions more low-
income, uninsured American children get a healthy start.
  It is a good agreement. It is fiscally responsible. It has broad 
support across the Congress. And most importantly, it puts children 
first.
  In August, 68 Senators voted for nearly the exact same $35 billion 
agreement to renew and improve the Children's Health Insurance Program. 
They voted to reach millions more uninsured children in low-income, 
working families.
  This week, Senators can stand up for kids again.
  I know that there is pressure from the White House. The White House 
is asking Senators to turn away this time.
  But the President is endangering children when he distorts what this 
bill does. The President is endangering children when he repeats his 
veto threats.
  Moreover, the agreement does exactly what the President says it 
should.
  The agreement will target the Children's Health Insurance Program 
toward the lowest-income eligible children. It will give States bonus 
funding for enrolling the poorest kids for health care. And it will 
reduce Federal funding for children in higher-income families.
  The agreement will not raise the eligibility level for CHIP. That 
will still be for the administration and the States to decide. That is 
how the CHIP law was written in 1997, by a Republican-led Congress. We 
do not change that.
  Our goal is to reach more of the low-income, uninsured children who 
are already eligible for CHIP today. Our goal is to keep the program 
for kids.
  That is why our agreement will curb coverage of adults in CHIP.
  It will improve the kids' coverage in so many ways, from outreach for 
minority communities to dental care for every child who enrolls.
  In addition, a straight extension of CHIP at current funding, or at 
the President's cut-rate budget proposal, will cause thousands, even 
millions of children to lose their health coverage.
  Many families would have no choice at all to get health care for 
their kids. They would have no way to pay the doctor. They would have 
no way to buy the medicine.
  But CHIP can get kids in working families the doctor's visits and 
medicines that they need when they're sick. CHIP can get them the 
checkups that they need to stay well.
  In 10 years, the Children's Health Insurance Program has reduced the 
number of low-income children living without health insurance by one-
third.
  And 82 percent of Americans want Congress to cover more low-income, 
uninsured kids with CHIP.
  This week, Congress is heeding the call. This week, we will choose to 
do right by America's kids.
  The President should look beyond politics. The President should look 
to the faces of America's uninsured children.
  The President should see that the time is ripe for him to do right, 
as well.
  I thank my colleagues, and urge their support for America's children 
this week.

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