Bill Clinton: “today, in this Chamber, we are considering three critical issues that go to the heart of values we have as a nation…”

“today, in this Chamber, we are considering three critical issues that go to the heart of values we have as a nation, three pieces of legislation that seek to honor these values by putting them into action. We have passed and I am proud to support a bill to strengthen our capacity to stop hate crimes by supporting local law enforcement. We will be passing the largest expansion of health care for children since we created the Children's Health Insurance Program during the Clinton administration. Finally, included in this Children's Health Insurance Program legislation is a provision I sponsored and authored with Senator Dodd to support injured servicemembers by giving their families more time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act. This is a banner day for the Senate and the Congress, and I am proud to join a bipartisan coalition in tackling these challenges, from children without health insurance to military families without the support they need. We will pass the CHIP legislation by a wide margin, and so the choice will then fall squarely on the shoulders of the President. Will he join us in helping injured servicemembers and in providing health care to 3.8 million children who right now don't have it or will he put ideology ahead of military families and vulnerable children? We in this Chamber know what the right choice is. The American people also know what the right choice is.”