Floor Speech
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There shouldn't be any doubt here today about
what the Republicans are trying to do. They are trying to destroy
the SCHIP program. We spent 18 hours in our committee where they wouldn't
let the bill come up. The substitute that they had in the committee
would put so many barriers in the program that, in effect, the program
would die.
Don't believe them. They don't want to provide the additional funds.
They know that when this expires on September 30 - and it will if we
don't do something today - that there will be a million kids that will
automatically not have their health insurance. We are not changing
any of the eligibility today. It's they who want to change the eligibility.
The fact of the matter is, the CBO tells us, and I have it right here,
that this bill would cover another five million children who are currently
uninsured.
Now, my colleagues on the other side know that the states have run
out of money. Georgia ran out of money in March. They came to us and
begged us for more money. States ran out each of money month. We had
to put money in the supplemental appropriations bill because the states
ran out of money. We need at lot more money to make sure that these
5 million kids are covered. They want to stop that. They are not
proposing to cover any additional kids. They want to cut back.
There are no illegal aliens covered in this bill. There never were.
There's no language in here that says that.
This is not an entitlement. It's a block grant set up by Newt Gingrich.
Newt Gingrich was the guy who set it up as a block grant giving the
states the flexibility. The states want flexibility. Some of them
want to go a little higher. Well, it's George Bush, the President
of the United States that granted the waiver so they could have some
kids or some adults or kids in higher incomes. Who are you kidding?
This is a Republican program, but you are now walking away from it.
You don't want to fund it. You want to deny eligibility. You want
to kill the program. That's what you are all about here today and
don't let anybody kid you. Eighteen hours we had to listen while the
bill was being read. Today they want to delay.
They're kidding no one saying that they want an SCHIP program. Don't
believe what they say, it's simply not true. You vote for this bill
today to expand this program to provide more kids, not more eligibility.
If you don't, this will die and those kids are not going to have health
insurance.
You know, we have health insurance for our kids as Members of Congress.
That's ok, for our own kids, but not for the rest of these poor kids? |
