[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 26170-26171]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




BUSH AND CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS HAVE MISPLACED PRIORITIES: WAR OVER 
                           CHILDREN'S HEALTH

  (Mr. ELLISON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, last week Democrats and Republicans came 
together here in Congress to pass a bipartisan bill that will ensure 
that 10 million low-income children have access to private health care 
insurance. The bill would invest $35 billion more over the next 5 years 
in the Children's Health Insurance Program. It's fully paid for, as 
this Congress has vowed to pay as we go.
  Despite receiving strong bipartisan support here in Congress, 
President Bush is threatening to veto this legislation. He says the 
bill is simply too big. Instead, the President proposes a $5 billion 
funding increase that the nonpartisan CBO concludes would force 800,000 
children to lose their health insurance.
  Talk about misplaced priorities. President Bush didn't bat an eye 
when the Pentagon said that it needed as much as $200 billion, with a 
``b,'' over the next year to continue the war in Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, President Bush has no problem sending billions of 
dollars to Iraq every day, but doesn't seem inclined to support an 
investment in children's health care here in the U.S. Talk about 
misplaced priorities.

[[Page 26171]]



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