Week in Review
Posted by: Sen. Richard Burr
There was some rigorous debate on some important issues in Washington this week. We started off the week voting for President Obama's nominee for Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner. You can read my statement on this nomination by clicking here.
The rest of the week in the Senate was dedicated to reauthorizing the popular State Children's Health Insurance Program, also known as SCHIP. As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in 1997, I helped craft the original SCHIP program, which was designed to provide insurance coverage for low-income children between 100 and 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Insuring every child in America is an important priority, and something I fully support. Unfortunately, the bill we voted on this week does not put low-income children first. Instead, it would expand the program to include wealthier individuals.
In order to fund this expansion, the bill would levy an additional tax on tobacco products. This tax would disproportionately hurt workers and farmers in North Carolina. This is why I was proud to cosponsor an alternative SCHIP reauthorization bill, authored by Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), which would not only make sure that the current SCHIP program continues but also would expand coverage for the people SCHIP was originally intended to benefit -- uninsured children.