[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 27169-27174]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  THE PRESIDENT'S VETO OF BIPARTISAN CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased once again to host the 
Congressional Black Caucus message hour on Monday, the first hour of 
the week.
  In the past weeks we have talked about all kinds of issues affecting 
the American people and have focused on issues particularly affecting 
African American families. Once again, however, we are compelled to 
this week focus in on the State Children's Health Insurance Program, 
which the President chose to veto a couple weeks ago.
  This week on the floor of the House we will again be debating SCHIP 
and the President and our effort to override that veto. I am confident 
that my colleagues will join me in overriding that veto because they 
understand the importance of children in the United States having 
health care.
  I am joined this evening by several of my colleagues who will be 
speaking on this very issue. And I also want to say on behalf of the 
Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, who 
appointed me to lead this message hour, I want to thank the American 
public for listening in to our messages.
  I am pleased at this time to yield to my colleague, my good friend, 
and my sister from Oakland, California, Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the Chair of the 
Congressional Black Caucus, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, 
for her leadership and for her vision in making sure that really the 
conscience of America is heard on these Monday nights. And also let me 
thank Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones for her leadership and for 
her vigilance and also, as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, 
for her strong voice on behalf of our country's children.
  I rise tonight in strong support for overriding the President's 
misguided veto on the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
  Does the President want to relegate parents of sick children to 
frantic calls to 911, late night visits to emergency rooms, and tragic 
and preventable deaths due to undiagnosed illnesses? The Congress must 
say no and override his veto Thursday so that our children have access 
to regular checkups, preventative care, and a primary physician.
  We must stand with the American people who overwhelmingly support 
increasing access to children's health care. We must stand with nearly 
every single health organization, every single children's organization 
in America, like the American Medical Association, the American Academy 
of Pediatrics, the Children's Defense Fund, Easter Seals, the March of 
Dimes, and countless others who support their bill because they all 
understand the devastating impact of being uninsured.
  We must stand with the largest health insurance trade association in 
the country, America's Health Insurance Plans, who praised expanding 
the State Children's Health Insurance Program as a vital step in 
ensuring the health security of millions of America's children.
  Sadly, I believe, like many of us believe, that the President is 
totally disconnected from the reality of our children's lives. He has 
asked Congress for another $190 billion, $190 billion, to fund his 
occupation of Iraq, while he has vetoed a fraction of that amount for 
our children. This is a shortsighted

[[Page 27170]]

assault on our Nation's children, and we cannot stand for it.
  This program is one of the most successful programs in the Nation, 
and it should be reauthorized and it should be expanded.
  When I was a State Senator in California, I helped write the 
California State program called Healthy Families, and now Healthy 
Families provides low-cost access to health care for over 800,000 
children, more than any other State. The flexibility built into SCHIP 
has allowed California to provide access to health, dental, and vision 
coverage for children. And, also, let me just say that if this doesn't 
get overridden, we don't know what is going to happen in California, 
like in other States; so this needs to continue.
  Comprehensive health coverage for children is also a very vital step 
towards eliminating the continuing health disparities that plague 
minority populations, including 800,000 Asian Pacific Americans, 1.4 
million African Americans, and 3.4 million Hispanics.
  Providing health care coverage for our children is one of the most 
cost-effective investments that America can make. Children are the 
least costly to provide coverage for, and giving children access to 
adequate primary health care will create a generation of healthier, 
better educated and, in the end, more productive adults.
  It's mind-boggling that President Bush vetoed a children's health 
bill. It is a shame and disgrace that our children are not his 
priority. So the House must stand with America's 10 million children 
and vote ``yes'' to override his veto on Thursday. This is the right 
thing to do. Voting to override the President's veto is the moral and 
it is the ethical vote to cast. Our children deserve nothing less.
  Let me thank my colleague again from Ohio, Congresswoman Stephanie 
Tubbs Jones, for making sure that the voice of children are heard once 
again on this floor.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I want to engage in a conversation with you just 
for a moment, Congresswoman Lee.
  The cost of providing health care to children is $3.50 per child. 
Now, those of us who drink expensive coffee spend more than that on a 
cup of coffee every day. And wouldn't it just make sense? With all due 
respect to President Bush, but on this issue he is just totally 
incorrect. And all the newspapers and organizations are saying just 
that, that he is incorrect.
  Ms. LEE. He is totally incorrect, first of all, and I think that 
$3.50 example explains why he's incorrect.
  It is about priorities, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones. It is about where 
we put our tax dollars. Do we care about securing the future of our 
country? Do we care about our children's future? And that is what this 
is about. He has asked for $190 billion, as I said earlier, to continue 
to fund this occupation in Iraq. Well, I would think that a pittance of 
that money, when we know how much this would cost, would go to cover 
our children. And our children deserve it.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the amazing thing is he is trying to 
talk about this whole piece of being conservative, fiscally 
conservative in the dollars he is expending, but this President has put 
us in greater deficit than all the Presidents predating him. From 
George Washington on up to Bill Clinton, he has spent more money. So 
being fiscally conservative really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
  Ms. LEE. When the President took office, we had a surplus in our 
country, and now we are in a deficit spending mode. And I will tell 
you, it is mortgaging and making our children pay for the mistakes of 
this administration. So we have to dig ourselves out of this. And I 
think this is a first step to making sure that our children are healthy 
enough to move forward to be able to take over and try to help figure 
out how they can secure this country for America's families and 
children.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Thank you, Congresswoman Lee, for leadership in 
this area but also in the whole HIV/AIDS area. You are a beacon of 
light for the Congressional Black Caucus and for the Nation. So I thank 
you for joining me this evening, and I hope you have a great evening.
  Ms. LEE. Thank you very much.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, one thing that we all know is that 
the Children's Health Insurance Program, the acronym which is SCHIP, 
State Children's Health Insurance Program, has always been a bipartisan 
piece of legislation. We have seen Governors from both parties across 
this country in strong support of the bill. Senate Republicans and 
Democrats have joined together on a veto-proof vote that the President 
has ignored. In the House we have strong bipartisan support as well.
  I am pleased at this time to yield to my colleague and good friend 
from Brooklyn, New York, and I hate that we beat the Yankees, but my 
good friend from New York, Yvette Clarke.
  Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Ohio 
for her leadership and for being here to give guidance during this hour 
for the CBC. And I want to thank our chairwoman, Ms. Carolyn 
Kilpatrick, for seeing fit to add this particular perspective to the 
conversation that we are having with our Nation around the Children's 
Health Insurance Program in our States.

                              {time}  2000

  And, Mr. Speaker, I'm elated to stand with my colleagues today to 
once again voice my support, my wholehearted support for children's 
health insurance coverage, also known as SCHIP.
  Just over a week ago, the President vetoed bipartisan legislation 
that would have provided 10 million American children health coverage 
through SCHIP. Since the beginning of my tenure here, you know I'm a 
freshman, in this 110th session, this is the second time the President 
has vetoed important health care legislation with broad bipartisan 
support; the other veto being an expansion of potentially life saving 
stem cell research.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my honor and duty to stand with my fellow 
Democrats, telling this administration that this veto will not deter 
nor distract us from protecting the health and well-being of our 
children.
  The people that I represent in central Brooklyn have spoken loud and 
clear, and so has the rest of America. Republicans and Democrats alike 
have expressed their dismay with the President's decision to veto this 
bipartisan legislation. Additionally, the country overwhelmingly 
supports the Children's Health Insurance Program. A recent Washington 
Post-ABC News poll indicates that 72 percent of the country supports 
the extension and reauthorization of the CHIP program. Governors of 
both parties across the country support the bipartisan bill.
  Now, following the veto, the fight for health insurance for 10 
million low-income children moves back to this body where the hard work 
of rebuilding and building consensus among both Democrats and 
Republicans has already taken place. Now, the rubber-stamp Republicans 
who have sided with the President and are standing between 10 million 
low-income children and their health care must hear from the American 
people. We will override the President's rejection of health coverage 
for 10 million children, but the voices of the American people must be 
heard by those in Washington.
  SCHIP was created to provide health care coverage for children and 
families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to 
afford private insurance. It costs, as my colleague, Stephanie Tubbs 
Jones, has already stated, less than $3 a day to cover a child through 
the Children's Health Insurance Program.
  Ensuring kids is also cost-effective for taxpayers, who pick up the 
tab for indigent care in emergency rooms, the most expensive way to 
care for a child's health, as well because a healthy child is more 
likely to succeed in education and life.
  Over the last 10 years, the children's health program has proven to 
be popular and successful, with 6 million children now enrolled in the 
program. The bipartisan children's health insurance bill has broad 
bipartisan support. It's supported by 68 Senators, including 18 
Republicans; it's supported by 43 Governors, including 16 Republicans; 
it's

[[Page 27171]]

supported by more than 270 organizations representing millions of 
Americans; and it's supported by a strong majority of the American 
people.
  This bipartisan bill renews and improves the Children's Health 
Insurance Program, providing health care coverage for 10 million 
children, preserving coverage for 6 million children currently covered 
by SCHIP, and extending coverage to nearly 4 million uninsured children 
according to the nonpartisan CBO.
  Ironically, this morning I had an opportunity, along with my 
colleague, Nydia Velazquez, to attend a press conference hosted by the 
Working Families Party, ACORN, SCIU and Mothers in Our Community to 
reach out to a corporation in New York called KKR in midtown Manhattan. 
This is an investment firm that owns Toys-R-Us and Dollar General. 
These two toy retailers have already subjected America's families to 
massive and unprecedented recalls of millions of poisonous lead toys 
that have flooded the market. This is a great concern. If we don't get 
a commitment for a code of conduct protecting our children from lead 
poison, our holiday toy-buying season could mean putting the health of 
millions of American children at risk.
  This concern is compounded by this administration's reckless 
disregard for our most vulnerable, our children. Just imagine the 
confluence of two of these things happening at the same time. Right 
now, parents and families, mothers are concerned about lead-tainted 
toys. And at the same time, when we need health care coverage that can 
identify lead poisoning, that can help to ameliorate some of those 
concerns, because, on the one hand, our safety is not being protected 
through the consumer protection, we need to have SCHIP in place.
  Two-thirds of uninsured children are currently eligible for SCHIP or 
Medicaid. This bill is simply designed to give States the resources and 
incentives to enroll children who are eligible but not signed up for 
SCHIP and Medicare.
  Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to be here to say that when we look at 
communities of color, in particular, black communities across this 
Nation, it has been this type of safety net health care that enables 
our communities to grow from strength to strength. These are just those 
American policies we need to give our families the boost they need so 
that when children go to school with asthma, they can be treated, they 
don't have to be out for days on end. When our children have hepatitis, 
tuberculosis, when they have any type of communicable disease, these 
diseases can be treated quickly before they reach the level of crisis 
in the emergency room.
  SCHIP gives us that tool to be able to make sure that Americans are 
safe and secure, that their health and well-being is something that we 
all value as part of the American fabric of who we are.
  And so I want to thank you, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, for anchoring this 
hour for the CBC. When we think about our communities and how critical 
this legislation is, not only for our communities, but for all 
Americans, this transcends race, ethnicity, gender. It's American 
children. I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to share 
this time with you.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. The people of Brooklyn need to know that this 
congresswoman has come in here, put her running shoes, we call them 
high-heeled sneakers, put those running shoes on and really has done a 
fantastic job. We're so very proud of what she's doing, the leadership 
she's showing; and I thank you for joining me for this message hour 
this evening.
  Ms. CLARKE. Thank you very much.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. SCHIP, one of the best ways to deliver health 
care to America's children. SCHIP, one of the best ways and cost-
effective ways to deliver health care.
  You know, I was stunned when I heard President Bush tell the people 
of America, well, these children have health care already; all they 
have to do is go to an emergency room. I don't know how many of you had 
the opportunity, just very recently, to see the news show talking about 
how the emergency rooms in this country are overladen and overburdened 
by so many people coming into emergency rooms across the country.
  In my efforts of obtaining earmarks over the past 4 years in my 
congressional district, I have sought money for improving the emergency 
rooms in several hospitals in my congressional district. I've been in 
the emergency room. I've been there, and the pictures show it, where 
there are people laying on gurneys in the hallways because there are 
not enough private spaces for them to use. There are children, seniors, 
people of all ages in these hospitals and using the emergency room as 
their primary care. Emergency rooms were created just for that, 
emergencies, not for the delivery of ongoing preventative care.
  And the only way that we can make sure that our children are more 
healthy, the only way that we can ensure that children who are being 
educated, they have to be healthy in order to get a good lesson. That's 
why we started Head Start and we started lunch programs and breakfast 
programs at school so that children could go to school and they 
wouldn't be hungry. So now that we're feeding them and they go to 
school and they're not hungry, we ought to make sure they have health 
care coverage so they go to school healthy.
  And I don't know how many of you there are listening, but I know 
you've heard the story where your granddaughter or your niece or your 
nephew or your child goes to a day care facility for the first time and 
they come home with all kinds of whooping cough or something, running 
noses, and it's because a lot of young children come to day care 
without having received any health care. It will make a real difference 
in the lives of a lot of people if we provide health care to our 
children, and particularly preventative health care.
  The other reason it becomes so important is that an unhealthy child 
is not going to be able to pay attention in school. An unhealthy child 
who is not paying attention in school, is not doing well, is unlikely 
to do well in junior high school, unlikely to do well in high school, 
unlikely to make it to college. It may be the precursor to dropping out 
for a number of children here in the United States of America. And that 
is why this issue becomes so very important and vital to all of our 
communities.
  Let me just read to you some of the things that some of the national 
newspapers have said about SCHIP. The Miami Herald said: ``Vote to 
Override the Veto of Children's Health Bill.'' ``President Bush's veto 
of the children's health insurance bill is like Imelda Marcos denying a 
barefoot child a pair of shoes.'' That makes me laugh because I think 
about all my girlfriends who have lots of shoes, and they're much like 
Imelda Marcos. ``The President complains that expanding health care 
coverage for low-income children will cost too much and lead to 
socialized medicine. Neither assertion is true. Now it's up to Congress 
to override this veto. We urge the Representatives who voted against 
the bill, most of them Republican, to reconsider. Instead of supporting 
the questionable priorities of a lame-duck President, they should vote 
to improve the health prospects of low-income children.''
  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said: ``Some People, All the Time.'' 
``Caring for and protecting children is among the highest values of 
society, and one of its most crucial obligations. On Wednesday, 
President Bush vetoed a bill to renew and extend the reach of a program 
that provides health insurance to American children whose families 
can't afford it or can't get it at any price. Congress now must stand 
up for children's health and override the President's veto. Mr. Bush's 
misleading rhetoric calls to mind the warning about gullibility made by 
a very different Republican President, Abraham Lincoln. As Congress 
prepares to override the President's veto, those who voted against the 
SCHIP plan should take care to ensure that they're not fooled all the 
time.''
  The Philadelphia Inquirer: ``The SCHIP Veto: Children Last.'' ``There 
was no convincing reason for President

[[Page 27172]]

Bush to deliver on his long-standing threat of veto for the SCHIP bill 
other than that he hoped to score political points. Bush's stated 
reason for opposing the congressionally approved $35 billion increase 
in the program was that somehow it was a step towards socialized 
government-run medical coverage benefiting low-income families. That 
doesn't square with the facts, since most of the kids helped by the 
program are in working-class households. And it doesn't jive with the 
widespread support for SCHIP among the American public, not to mention 
the impressive number of Republicans who backed the veto measure. So 
it's difficult to see how the President's strategy on SCHIP puts any 
more children first.''
  The Columbus Post-Dispatch: ``Veto Lament.'' ``President Bush's veto 
yesterday of the expansion of SCHIP not only leaves millions of 
children without health care coverage; it can leave many of Bush's 
fellow Republicans exposed to political attacks in next year's 
election. Bush said the expansion passed by Congress would cost too 
much. At $35 billion over 5 years, it certainly is expensive, but this 
investment in the health of America's children will pay big dividends. 
Healthy children do better in school and in life. And those who get 
well-child care in a doctor's office take some of the burden off the 
Nation's crowded emergency rooms, saving on medical costs overall. 
Congress' plan, which has the support of the public and backers from 
both sides of the aisle, would add 4 million children to the rolls.''
  The Seattle Post Intelligencer: ``Children's Health: Overturn the 
Veto.''
  It said: ``In vetoing a much-needed expansion of children's health 
coverage, President Bush distorted the issues, put partisanship over 
compassion, and defied the goodhearted will of the public.''
  And finally, in terms of newspaper endorsements, Waterloo-Cedar Falls 
Courier of Iowa: ``Bush Should Have Compromised on SCHIP Program.'' 
``President Bush's veto Wednesday of a bill that could have 
dramatically expanded children's health insurance came as no surprise. 
He had promised to do so even before a compromise was hammered out in 
Congress. Bush's determination, in the face of bipartisan support for 
the bill and with polls showing the bill is favored by nearly two-
thirds of Americans, is troubling.''
  All of these newspapers have said pointblank that President Bush is 
wrong on this issue, that President Bush should not use this as a 
political partisan dagger, that he should move forward and allow the 
children of America across the board to have access to health care 
coverage.

                              {time}  2015

  The other reason this bill becomes so very important is because a lot 
of employers no longer are providing health care coverage for their 
employees. A number of employees can't afford the health care coverage 
that employers provide. So it is particularly important for these young 
children to have access to well care, as well.
  Let me tell you what Senator Charles Grassley, Republican, said, 
``The President's understanding of our bill is wrong. I urge him is to 
reconsider his veto message.'' Senator Orrin Hatch, another Republican, 
said, ``We are talking about kids who basically don't have coverage. I 
think the President had some pretty bad advice on this.'' I want to 
echo that. I think whoever is advising President Bush on this issue is 
doing a detriment to the President as well as a detriment to the people 
of America. Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, has said, ``I can't 
believe the President would veto a program that benefits low-income 
children.'' I couldn't believe it either, Senator Collins. He should 
not have vetoed it. But he did. So our job, as Members of Congress, is 
to override this veto on Thursday of this week.
  Today, 50 million Americans have no health insurance. That includes 
more than 8 million children. Eight out of the 10 uninsured Americans 
either work or are in working families. Jesse Jackson, when he was 
running for President, Rev. Jackson, used to use the term the ``working 
poor.'' They get up every morning. They go to work. They work 40, 50 
hours a week. They come home every evening. The kind of money that they 
are receiving, even with the increase in minimum wage, still puts them 
below or within 200, 250 percent of poverty. So not only do we have 
poor people who are with no income or low income, we have working poor 
who need health care coverage.
  My colleague, Barbara Lee, spoke to earlier the whole issue of 
disparity in health care. The studies say that an African American male 
and a Caucasian male can have the same health care coverage but that 
the delivery of that health care to the African American male is less 
than the delivery to the Caucasian male. There are all kinds of 
disparities in what is going on in health care in our Nation, and this 
is one of the ways that we can level the playing field. We can get rid 
of some of the disparities within our support of SCHIP.
  Being uninsured means going without needed care. It means minor 
illnesses become major ones because care is delayed. Tragically, it 
also means that one significant medical expense can wipe out a family's 
life savings. Right now, everybody is talking about the problem with 
the mortgage industry, and one of the reasons there are a significant 
number of foreclosures and bankruptcies is because there are families 
who have had to pay for health care coverage, and as a result of being 
required to pay for health care coverage, they are losing their houses. 
That should not be happening. There are millions of working uninsured 
Americans who go to bed every night worrying what will happen to them 
and their families if a major illness or injury strikes.
  In Ohio, my home State, there are currently 1,362,000 uninsured. It 
is an increase of 18,000 people since 2003. We have also seen this 
drain on many of the local hospitals in my district when people are 
forced to use emergency rooms. The problem is getting worse. As the 
price of health care continues to rise, fewer individuals and families 
can afford to pay for coverage. Fewer small businesses are able to 
provide coverage for their employees, and those that do are struggling 
to hold on to the coverage.
  It is a problem that affects all of us. We cannot sit idly by while 
the people of this country continue to go without health care coverage. 
We must continue to push. And today is Monday. On Thursday, this House 
will vote to override the veto of SCHIP. Those of you who are listening 
across this country, if you have not contacted your Member of Congress, 
if you have not contacted your Senator and said to them that they need 
to vote to override this veto, I encourage you to fax, call, e-mail, 
stop by the office, whatever you need to do so that we can advocate on 
behalf of our people. This will be an opportunity this week for the 
people of America to stand up and say to this President that health 
care is a priority for us. But more importantly, health care coverage 
for our children is our highest priority.
  I am pleased to have had the opportunity to work on the Health 
Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee. I wanted to get on that 
committee because that is an opportunity for me to be engaged in long-
term policy development of health care in this country. In my 
congressional district, the largest employers are the health care 
industry. We have a large number of hospitals. I want to work to assure 
the people of the 11th Congressional District that they are going to 
have access to health care. I want to work to assure that people of 
America, black, white, brown, yellow, that we are working in order to 
make sure that they have health care coverage.
  It has been a privilege to serve on the Health Subcommittee with my 
good colleague, Pete Stark, from California and a privilege to serve on 
the Ways and Means Committee under the leadership of Charles Rangel. I 
have the privilege of leading this Special Order, this message on 
behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus and our leader Carolyn Cheeks 
Kilpatrick. It is so very, very important that we continue, the 
Congressional Black Caucus continues to lead on these issues. I am

[[Page 27173]]

pleased to have the opportunity to lead this message hour in and around 
SCHIP this week.
  Again, everyone needs to pay attention to this issue and pull out all 
the stops and say to President Bush that we are going to override your 
veto. We understand that you have chosen to go down the wrong path, 
that you are reaching out to the wrong people and supporting the wrong 
people. And you are overlooking the most important group of people in 
our country, and that is our children.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me thank my dear friend, 
Ms. Tubbs Jones of Ohio, for organizing this special order on the very 
important subject of SCHIP Reauthorization. I have very serious 
concerns about the compromised SCHIP legislation that will come before 
this House later this week. My major concern is that the version of the 
legislation that will come before the House in response to the 
President's veto will be even less expansive than the version the House 
voted on previously.
  This is extremely important because reauthorization of SCHIP is 
crucial to closing the racial and ethnic health disparities in this 
country. Narrowing health care coverage of our children, as this newly 
agreed upon version does, clearly falls far short of the goal that we 
had hoped for in our efforts to decrease health disparities. It is 
crucial that this Congress continue to bring awareness to the many 
health concerns facing minority communities and to acknowledge that we 
need to find solutions to address these concerns. My colleagues in the 
Congressional Black Caucus and I understand the very difficult 
challenges facing us in the form of huge health disparities among our 
community and other minority communities. We will continue to seek 
solutions to those challenges.
  Reauthorization of the SCHIP is crucial to realizing those solutions. 
However, we must not compromise away the health of millions of children 
who will under this new SCHIP version go without health care coverage. 
It is imperative for us to improve the prospects for living long and 
healthy lives and fostering an ethic of wellness in African-American 
and other minority communities. I thank all of my CBC colleagues who 
have been toiling in the vineyards for years developing effective 
public policies and securing the resources needed to eradicate racial 
and gender disparities in health and wellness.
  We know that the lack of healthcare contributes greatly to the racial 
and ethnic health disparities in this country, so we must provide our 
children with the health insurance coverage to remain healthy. SCHIP, 
established in 1997 to serve as the healthcare safety net for low-
income uninsured children, has decreased the number of uninsured low-
income children in the United States by more than one-third. The 
reduction in the number of uninsured children is even more striking for 
minority children.
  In 2006, SCHIP provided insurance to 6.7 million children. Of these, 
6.2 million were in families whose income was less than $33,200 a year 
for a family of three. SCHIP works in conjunction with the Medicaid 
safety net that serves the lowest income children and ones with 
disabilities. Together, these programs provide necessary preventative, 
primary and acute healthcare services to more than 30 million children. 
Eighty-six percent of these children are in working families that are 
unable to obtain or afford private health insurance. Meanwhile, health 
care through SCHIP is cost effective: it costs a mere $3.34 a day or 
$100 a month to cover a child under SCHIP, according to the 
Congressional Budget Office. There are significant benefits of the 
State Children's Health Insurance Program when looking at specific 
populations served by this program.


                           Minority Children

  SCHIP has had a dramatic effect in reducing the number of uninsured 
minority children and providing them access to care:
  Between 1996 and 2005, the percentage of low-income African American 
and Hispanic children without insurance decreased substantially.
  In 1998, roughly 30 percent of Latino children, 20 percent of African 
American children, and 18 percent of Asian American and Pacific 
Islander children were uninsured. After enactment, those numbers had 
dropped by 2004 to about 12 percent, and 8 percent, respectively.
  Half of all African American and Hispanic children are already 
covered by SCHIP or Medicaid.
  More than 80 percent of uninsured African American children and 70 
percent of uninsured Hispanic children are eligible but not enrolled in 
Medicaid and SCHIP, so reauthorizing and increasing support for SCHIP 
will be crucial to insuring this population.
  Prior to enrolling in SCHIP, African American and Hispanic children 
were much less likely than non-Hispanic White children to have a usual 
source of care. After they enrolled in SCHIP, these racial and ethnic 
disparities largely disappeared. In addition, SCHIP eliminated racial 
and ethnic disparities in unmet medical needs for African American and 
Hispanic children, putting them on par with White children. SCHIP is 
also important to children living in urban areas of the country. In 
urban areas: One in four children has healthcare coverage through 
SCHIP. More than half of all children whose family income is $32,180 
received healthcare coverage through SCHIP.


                             Texas Children

  The reauthorization of SCHIP is crucial for children in Texas. Texas 
has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation, and Houston/
Harris County the highest in the state. The SCHIP would go a long way 
to provide coverage for the 585,500 children enrolled in Texas's CHIP 
program; and to reach the 998,000 children in families with incomes 
under the 200 percent Federal Poverty Level (FPL) who remain uninsured.
  Almost 40 percent of young children in Houston lack immunizations 
that help prevent deadly childhood illnesses like measles, mumps, 
pneumococcal disease and whooping cough. I applaud the efforts of the 
Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HHDHS), the Harris 
County Public Health and Environmental Services (HCPHES), the Texas 
Department of State Health Services (DSHS), Texas Children's Hospital, 
the Rotary Club of Houston, and the national organization Every Child 
By Two (ECBT) who have created a new partnership and campaign, 
``Immunize On Time, Every Time'' to increase vaccination rates among 
Houston's infants and toddlers. To sustain programs such as these, we 
need to provide our children with the health insurance coverage they so 
desperately need and deserve.
  According to the Immunization Bureau, Houston Department of Health 
and Human Services, Houston's childhood immunization rates are below 
average for both Texas and the country, leaving our children--and our 
wider community--vulnerable to potentially life-threatening illnesses.
  In Texas, the SCHIP bill is the only hope for securing health care 
and increasing the quality of all aspects of health care for our 
children. Far too often in Texas, those who lack health care coverage 
frequently delay seeking medical care until they are seriously ill. 
That fact does nothing more than exacerbate the health care problem 
because it leads to the overload of emergency rooms which are required 
by law to treat them even if the patient has no ability to pay. Since 
emergency care is far more expensive than a scheduled visit to a doctor 
or clinic, hospitals end up with large costs that they, in turn, pass 
on to insured patients using their overtaxed facilities. As a result, 
insurance companies raise their rates even higher to cover the 
increased payouts, making their policies too expensive for more working 
families. The result is a health care system spiraling out of control 
and more children left unprotected and in poor health. Reauthorization 
of SCHIP would reverse this trend.


                        Children in Urban Areas

  SCHIP is also important to children living in urban areas of the 
country. In urban areas: One in four children has healthcare coverage 
through SCHIP. More than half of all children whose family income is 
$32,180 received healthcare coverage through SCHIP.


                     Children in Rural Communities

  SCHIP is significantly important to children living in our country's 
rural areas. In rural areas: One in three children has health care 
coverage through SCHIP or more than half of all children whose family 
income is under $32,180 received healthcare coverage through Medicaid 
or SCHIP. Seventeen percent of children continue to be of the 50 
counties with the highest rates of uninsured children, 44 are rural 
counties, with many located in the most remote and isolated parts of 
the country. Because the goal is to reduce the number of uninsured 
children, reauthorizing and increasing support for SCHIP will be 
crucial to helping the uninsured in these counties and reducing the 17 
percent of uninsured.
  Mr, Speaker, I would much rather have extended the deadline for 
reauthorization of SCHIP, while we diligently and reasonably consider 
the unsettled issues in this debate so that millions of the most 
vulnerable population, including many African American and other 
minority children can receive the health care coverage they need to 
remain healthy and develop into productive citizens of this great 
country. It is not as important to reauthorize an inferior bill under 
pressure of fast-approaching deadlines, as it is to ensure that we 
provide health care to those children who remain vulnerable to health 
disparities. I urge

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my colleagues to join me in ensuring health care coverage for millions 
of children and reducing health disparities among the most vulnerable 
populations.
  I will continue to fight vigorously to ensure that we provide health 
coverage for millions of this nation's uninsured children. As leaders 
of this great nation, we have no other choice. The health of our 
children should not be compromised while we spend billions of dollars 
in other countries in the name of ensuring the health and safety of our 
international neighbors. While it is honorable to love thy neighbor as 
thyself, charity must certainly begin at home.
  There is no reason why this country should continue down a dreadfully 
deleterious road of denying healthcare to any citizen of this country 
who needs it. Many of the health conditions, such as diabetes, obesity, 
kidney failure, cancer, hypertension and HIV/AIDS, the prevalence of 
which plagues minority communities most, could be curtailed or even 
prevented if everyone had access to health insurance. I will continue 
to fight hard for the most effective policy measures that aim to narrow 
the racial health disparity gap.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to have been 
granted this message hour, and I am very pleased to yield back my time 
early so that the next Special Order can begin.

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