[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15749]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               CONGRESS NEEDS TO REAUTHORIZE CHIP FUNDING

  (Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Mr. Speaker, since 1997, the Children's Health 
Insurance Program, or CHIP, has provided low-cost health insurance for 
millions of children across the United States of America.
  Unfortunately, in another apparent sabotage to our Nation's 
healthcare system, Congress failed to reauthorize CHIP funding before 
it expired on September 30. Without immediate action, States will soon 
have to curtail care for our neediest children.
  In my home State of Illinois, alone, over 295,000 children rely on 
CHIP for everything from routine checkups to immunizations. Congress' 
continued failure to reauthorize this critical program is jeopardizing 
the well-being of millions of America's children.
  Congress will be going into recess again next week without taking any 
action to reauthorize this bipartisan and essential program for 
children. Meanwhile, millions of kids could go without care because of 
our failure to act. We must do better.

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