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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, issued the following statement today after President Bush once again issued a veto threat of legislation to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) at a nationally televised press conference this morning.
"Today, President Bush once again walked away from a promise he made the American people during his speech at the National Republican Convention that he would 'lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children who are eligible but not signed up for the government's health insurance programs.'
"The president says that our proposal goes beyond the scope of the current program. That's blatantly false. Our CHIP proposal looks to provide millions of additional children access to health insurance, but these are children who are already eligible for CHIP. President Bush ignores the fact that his administration is responsible for the expansion of the program by approving waivers to states to change the framework of their program. I support such waivers, but for him to blame the Congress for expanding CHIP is disingenuous at best.
"President Bush also stated that our proposal begins moving our nation towards government run health care. Again, he either doesn't fully understand how CHIP works or he's trying to intentionally deceive the American people. CHIP provides children access to private health insurance. If President Bush wants to distance himself from his 2004 promise that's his decision, but he should stop trying to justify it with deceptive statements and blatant falsehoods.
"The Democratic Congress will send President Bush a bill that reauthorizes the Children's Health Insurance Program by September 30. Next week, in a bipartisan fashion, Congress will support a final bill that will allow us to reach millions of children who are already eligible for the program but who are not currently enrolled.
"Over the last two years, the number of uninsured children in our nation has increased each year. We have an opportunity this year to reverse this troubling trend by strengthening CHIP. I would hope that President Bush would remember his 2004 promise and reconsider his ill-advised veto threat."
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