[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Pages 28773-28774]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  CHILDREN'S HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, children's health is a tremendously 
difficult issue because children all over America need to be able to go 
to a doctor when they are sick or hurt. The way this body is operating 
now basically is that we are not going to be able to complete, it 
appears, our legislation. The President has vetoed the bill once. We 
were told that if certain changes were made, Republicans in the House 
would look to this legislation favorably. We did make some changes. We 
tightened down the legislation so it is virtually impossible for anyone 
who is here illegally to obtain benefits from this program. We changed 
that.
  We also limited the legislation so parents or adults without children 
would be off the program in 1 year. Also, there could be no waivers for 
those over 300 percent of poverty. Ninety-two percent of the 
individuals getting benefits from the legislation are 200 percent above 
poverty.
  We made those changes, hoping it would bring some around. After that 
was done and it passed the House and came over here, we were told by a 
number of individuals if we would hold off on this legislation, there 
would be an agreement reached, and I thought that

[[Page 28774]]

was a good suggestion. As the Record indicates, yesterday I asked that 
that be the case. Obviously, that was not the case. An objection was 
heard and we were unable to delay the vote.
  This morning, we heard something from the President that is totally 
different. He keeps changing the ball here. First of all, he indicated 
to Leader Pelosi and me that he would like to sit down and talk to us. 
He said that publicly in the press. After the veto vote, he said he 
would like to come down and talk to us. Then he said, no, I am not 
going to talk to you; talk to my staff. Obviously, he wasn't leveling 
with the American people then.
  Today, he came up with a new deal. He doesn't like the way it is paid 
for. I guess his term of reference is that we don't pay for much around 
here. That is why we have these staggering deficits. But he said in the 
press today he didn't like the way it is paid for. Remember, we are on 
a pay-go program around here. Any new spending has to be paid for. This 
children's health program is paid for with tobacco taxes. So the 
goalposts keep being moved.
  What are the consequences? Is it a bunch of talk by Government 
officials, of which I am one? It is very serious. Twenty-one States 
will run out of money for childrens' health insurance in the coming 
year. At least nine of those States will exhaust their allotments in 
March if Congress continues spending at current levels.
  There is a report that came out today in the New York Times 
newspaper. California is adopting rules, in case that happens, to 
create a waiting list and remove more than a million children who are 
already on the rolls. These are kids. The nine states that will run out 
of money by March are Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, 
Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. This comes from a 
nonpartisan, nonpolitical organization, the Congressional Research 
Service.
  So there are real consequences to what we are not doing. We are going 
to go ahead with the vote today and complete this legislation, as I 
indicated, sometime this week. If we have to work into the weekend, we 
will. I have alerted the Republican leader of that. If necessary, we 
can, of course, condense that time, but it would take consent of all 
the Senators.
  We are, in good faith, trying to protect children--children who are 
already receiving the benefits of this program that was adopted 10 
years ago on a bipartisan basis, led by Senators Kennedy and Hatch. Now 
we are trying to further this legislation, led by Senators Baucus, 
Grassley, Rockefeller and Hatch and their counterparts in the House.
  I think it is a real shame that we are at the point where we are. Ten 
million children, if we pass this legislation, would have the benefits 
of this insurance. If we don't pass it, as indicated in some of the 
statistics I gave a minute ago, 9 States will run out of money in March 
and 21 States will run out next year sometime.
  The program now has 5.5 million children on it. If we don't do 
anything by year's end, it will be down to about 3 million children. 
That is what I am told. If we pass our legislation--and it doesn't cost 
the American people any money--we would wind up having 10 million 
children covered. As I have indicated, most all adults will be off the 
program, as I have indicated to the chair and to those within the sound 
of my voice.
  This is a good program. This doesn't take into consideration 
approximately 50 million people who have no health insurance, but it 
takes care of a few of the children--the little people--who need help 
when they are sick and hurt. This allows them even to go get some 
preventive care, which is badly needed, which will save our country a 
lot of money in the so-called outyears.
  We are ready and willing to be reasonable, but it appears we have no 
alternative, based on what we did yesterday, to proceed forward and 
send the bill to the President again. The only thing that would come in 
the way of that is if the Republicans use whatever excuse they can come 
up with to try to satisfy the President.
  As I said yesterday, in the 7 years this man has been President, he 
has had the strings on his puppets in the Senate. Maybe people who 
voted for this on more than one occasion will switch and say we don't 
like the way we are being treated. Remember, we have given them 
everything they wanted, and they could not take yes for an answer 
yesterday.

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