[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 26392-26393]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               CHIP VETO

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, a few minutes ago the President of the 
United States vetoed the children's health insurance legislation that 
has reflected the bipartisan support of the Members of the House of 
Representatives and the Senate and which has the support of children, 
families, and Americans all over.
  How could the President of the United States possibly veto this 
legislation? How could the President be so misinformed about the needs 
of these children? I think this is probably the most inexplicable veto 
in the history of the country. It is incomprehensible, it is 
intolerable, and it is unacceptable.
  Democrats pleaded with Members of the Republican Party to give us 
their help and their support so we could pass this legislation. Now we 
have that opportunity. The ball is in our court. We can do something 
about it. This is a defining issue, not only about children but also 
about the values of this country. So I hope Democrats and Republicans 
alike will come together and say children ought to come first in the 
United States.
  This is a value issue, it is a family issue, and it is something that 
demands action, and I hope we will override this veto.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, how much time is remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 7\1/2\ minutes remaining.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask to be yielded 3 minutes and to give 
the remaining time to the Senator from Washington after I have 
completed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is a strange thing when the President 
of

[[Page 26393]]

the United States uses his veto pen. He does it so rarely. He has only 
used it on two issues. Once, when we tried to change the policy on the 
war in Iraq and tried to bring our troops home in a responsible manner, 
the President vetoed it. The second was on stem cell research. When we 
tried to open up this opportunity for medical research to save lives 
and spare suffering for American families, the President vetoed it--not 
once but twice. Today, the President used his veto pen for the fourth 
time. Unlike other vetoes, there were no television cameras, no 
reporters, no announcements made. Quietly, in his office, the President 
signed the veto of the children's health insurance measure.
  This children's health insurance measure is a program that has been 
in business for 10 years. It is a successful program, and it has strong 
bipartisan support in Congress. We started this program because 15 
million kids in America did not have health insurance. They were not 
the poorest kids. The poorest kids have coverage under Medicaid. They 
were not the fortunate children, those who were lucky enough to have 
health insurance through their parents. They were the ones caught in 
the middle, the kids of working parents who make such a low wage and 
have so few benefits they cannot provide health insurance for their 
kids.
  So when President Bush vetoed this bill, why did he veto it? In a 
short, one-sentence statement he said: It was a middle-class 
entitlement.
  I would say to the President: Isn't it about time someone stood up 
for the middle class in this country? To argue that a couple making 
$60,000 a year, without health insurance where they go to work, can 
spend $800 or $900 a month on health insurance and not feel that pain 
in their budget tells me the President or his advisers are out of touch 
with America.
  When I go home to Illinois, and our colleagues go home to their 
States, the first thing you hear about is health insurance. You know 
what it is--people say: We don't have it where we work, and we cannot 
afford to buy it. We have health insurance, but it doesn't cover 
enough. Those are the realities of family life in America, and the 
President's veto today tells me he is out of touch with the real issues 
challenging middle-class working families in America.
  Fortunately, we have put together a bipartisan bill. With the 
leadership of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Orrin Hatch of Utah on 
the Republican side, Max Baucus on the Democrat side, and Senator 
Kennedy of Massachusetts, we have a compromise bipartisan bill. It is 
paid for. It does not add to the deficit. A tobacco tax on cigarettes 
and other tobacco products will pay for health insurance, so we will 
move from 6.6 million kids covered to 10 million kids, over 5 years, 
moving toward the goal of all children in America having health 
insurance.
  The President's veto today tells me he doesn't share our goal that 
every American, every family, should have health insurance that they 
can count on and afford. It tells me the President is not in touch with 
the real life of middle-class working families struggling to make ends 
meet, struggling to pay for college, struggling to make sure their kids 
have health insurance.
  This is an opportunity for Congress to come together, the House and 
the Senate on a bipartisan basis, to say to the President: Pay close 
attention to America. America needs a helping hand, and working-class, 
middle-class families need an opportunity for health insurance that 
they can afford for their children.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides, let's continue this effort on 
behalf of these families to provide affordable health insurance for 
kids across our Nation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, how much time remains?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There remains 3\1/2\ minutes.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, the President is turning a deaf ear to 
the crying needs of millions of American children by vetoing the 
Children's Health Insurance Program. The President claims this is an 
inefficient use of Federal dollars, but nothing could be further from 
the truth. When a family goes without health insurance, it means going 
without regular checkups, children missing more school than other 
children, and children waiting until the emergency room is the only 
answer.
  It means we don't catch ailments like ear infections and cavities and 
diabetes and asthma. It means treatable conditions are more likely to 
spiral out of control. And it means American taxpayers are spending 
billions of dollars for uncompensated care instead of spending money up 
front to provide continuity of care.
  It is not more efficient to veto this bill. With better coverage, we 
can treat things like fevers and injuries and infections before they 
turn into something far worse. We can catch chronic illnesses earlier 
and help children manage their conditions. We can save American 
taxpayers' dollars.
  But the President is turning a deaf ear to over 3.8 million Americans 
who simply cannot afford health insurance. How could they? Mr. 
President, are your budget analysts just numb to the fact that 
Americans are seeing higher and higher costs of health insurance? Are 
you choosing to ignore the fact that health insurance premiums grew by 
78 percent since 2001, while wages only grew 19 percent? Are you 
choosing to ignore that nearly half of the increase of uninsured 
children in America in the last several years occurred among those 
between 200 percent and 400 percent of the poverty line? That means 
more Americans are falling into the category of not being able to cover 
health insurance.
  Are you ignoring the fact that record numbers of businesses are 
dropping health insurance for their employees? That means a family with 
$41,000 trying to find health insurance could end up having to pay 30 
percent of their annual income. What American family can afford to pay 
30 percent of their income to find health insurance? American families 
are being squeezed out of health insurance, and the President of the 
United States is turning a deaf ear to the crying health care needs of 
our children. All we are doing is paying the bill later.
  The President should not be so heartless when it comes to the 
children of America. I know my colleagues are working shoulder to 
shoulder, Democrats and Republicans, trying to stop the President's 
veto. I hope my colleagues in the House of Representatives will have 
the courage to stand up to the President. But be assured that 
Republicans and Democrats in the Senate will continue this measure in 
whatever ways we can on behalf of America's children.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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