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Passage of SCHIP Extension Provides Healthcare Certainty for Millions
Thursday December 20, 2007Washington, D.C. - Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) today celebrated the passage of a long-term extension of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The bipartisan measure passed the House today and now moves on to President Bush for signature.
“For months I’ve been calling on leadership in Congress to remove the politics from SCHIP negotiations and offer a clean extension of this vital program for poor children. Instead, political calculations and partisan maneuvering were chosen. Today, Congress got it right. This long term extension provides healthcare certainty to millions of deserving children nationwide,” Congressman Aderholt stated.
On December 12, 2007, Congressman Aderholt wrote a bipartisan letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D – CA 8) that was signed by over 80 of his colleagues requesting a long-term extension of the current SCHIP. At the time, she was considering another short-term extension that would have expired just weeks before the 2008 elections. This manufactured political crisis was unacceptable to many Members of the House.
Congressman Aderholt made the following statement on the House floor this morning in support of today’s decision.
“I’d like to thank all the Members who have worked on this bill, and there have been many. While I’m disappointed that it’s taken us so long to come up with such a commonsense solution to the problem, in the end we have arrived at the correct decision.
When SCHIP was created in 1997, it was a bipartisan bill enacted by a Republican Congress and signed into law by a Democrat President. I think it would be fair to say that this year’s process has been anything but bipartisan. The political rancor of this debate has surpassed anything I’ve previously experienced during my time in Congress.
But, its time to move forward and remember what’s important in this process: providing necessary healthcare to America’s poor children.
In my home state of Alabama SCHIP has been a tremendous success and has helped a new generation of children lead happier, healthier lives. I’m pleased that Congress has decided to extend this vital program into 2009 and provide a level of certainty to state health directors that didn’t exist under the previous continuing resolutions.”