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Champ Act Champions Children

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 6, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Minors and Children Health Insurance


CHAMP ACT CHAMPIONS CHILDREN -- (House of Representatives - September 06, 2007)

Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, for a decade now the Children's Health Insurance Program has provided 6 million children access to private health insurance. Thanks to CHIP, every year over the last decade, the number of uninsured children fell. That is until the last 2 years.

Last week, the Census Bureau reported that the number of American children living without health insurance increased from 8 million in 2005 to 8.7 million in 2006. This is simply unacceptable.

I would hope President Bush saw these troubling numbers and finally realized we cannot afford to ignore them any longer. Last month, this Democratic House acted by passing the CHAMP Act, legislation that will allow us to reach an additional 5 million children who are already eligible for the CHIP program.

When CHIP was created back in 1997, it was supported by both Democrats and Republicans. But today, both the White House and the House Republican leadership oppose the CHAMP Act.

Mr. Speaker, the Census Bureau report should serve as a wake-up call to the President to reconsider his veto threat of the CHAMP Act.


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