Wayne Allard: “Madam President, I rise to encourage my colleagues in the Senate to vote with me on this important amendment. What we…”

“Madam President, I rise to encourage my colleagues in the Senate to vote with me on this important amendment. What we see happening now is that there is a discrepancy between the calculation of gross income between the various States. Because of the way the various States are calculating their gross income, some States are getting more benefit under SCHIP than others. The State of Colorado, for example, is not one of those States. There are 12 to 15 States that have made some adjustments in the way they figure gross income, and that entitles them to more Federal dollars as far as SCHIP is concerned. So what my amendment does, if it is adopted, it will direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to put in regulations the definition of gross income. This is going to have a 90-day period in order to establish this value, and this will then allow the States an opportunity to come and give their input as to what they think the calculation of gross income should be. Then, when that rule and regulation is enacted, all the States are going to be acting under the same rules so they will all be figuring their gross income in the same way. I think this is an important amendment. I think when we are talking about equity of benefits to the various States, it is extremely important we make sure they are operating under the same rules.”