[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26946]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    CHIP BILL AND BUSH'S VETO, THE PRESIDENT'S RHETORIC VS. REALITY

  (Mr. HARE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HARE. Mr. Speaker, last week, President Bush used his veto pen to 
strike down a bill that would provide health coverage to 10 million 
children. In explaining his veto, the President used rhetoric that has 
no basis in reality. The President claims that the focus of the SCHIP 
should be on poor children rather than to expand the program. But the 
fact is this bill does not expand the program, it simply allows for the 
coverage of more kids who are already eligible. As Republican Senator 
Hatch pointed out, for those who argue that it's out of control, 92 
percent of all the kids who will be covered by this bill will be 
families under 200 percent of the poverty level.
  The President also falsely says that the bill would cover kids in 
families earning $83,000 per year, but no State covers kids at that 
level now, and the bill actually reduces Federal support for coverage 
of children at higher income levels. The President's claims are simply 
wrong.
  Mr. Speaker, the question now for House Republicans is, are they 
going to stand behind the President's false claims about the children's 
health bill, or will they join us in overriding the President's veto?

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