Congressman Patrick McHenry (NC-10) released the following statement regarding his vote against H.R. 2.
“It is truly unfortunate that Congressional Democrats have chosen to play politics with children’s health care. I support the Republican-established SCHIP program and have previously voted to reauthorize and fund the program. My disagreements with this particular bill are two-fold. First, the legislation eliminates the requirement that 95% of poor children be covered before the program is expanded to higher-income individuals. This program must fulfill its mission to provide health care to poor children as opposed to advancing a partisan agenda for government-run health care. Second, the legislation imposes a 156% increase in taxes on tobacco. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service calls this “one of the most regressive” taxes that disproportionately hurts lower-income Americans. By putting politics ahead of poor children’s health care, this bill represents everything that is wrong with Washington.”
