[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 22]
[House]
[Pages 30352-30353]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           SCHIP NEGOTIATIONS

  (Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, what we're hearing about the SCHIP 
negotiations sounds like this Congress is getting ready to literally 
throw the baby out with the bathwater.
  We started with a less than perfect bill that would have covered 
close to 6 million children who are eligible. We're now heading to just 
above 3. And the proposed changes threaten to put up barriers that 
would even lower that number: removing outreach dollars will never get 
to the children we need to cover. Requiring proof of citizenship will 
scare naturalized citizens and the poor that we're trying to cover 
away.
  Taking away authority of States to have income disregards will cause 
children now covered to lose it. Not covering parents will threaten the 
health of their children, if they're lucky enough to squeeze through 
the sieve that the House Republicans are trying to create.
  Too little money to the States will keep them from even reaching 
their most modest goals, and trying so hard to get Republican votes may 
cause the measure to lose key ones from Democrats.
  I'm beginning to think it would be better to just extend the current 
CHIP until we have more people here who are

[[Page 30353]]

willing to do what is necessary to ensure that our children have access 
to good health and the better life that we owe them.

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