John Shadegg: “I listened to one of my colleagues just a moment ago say that this bill should be easy to reauthorize and should be done…”

“I listened to one of my colleagues just a moment ago say that this bill should be easy to reauthorize and should be done on a bipartisan basis, and, indeed, it should. But it is not because it has fallen victim to politics. It is victim to overreaching and political exploitation. This is a program that is supposed to be about uninsured poor children. But the President vetoed it because the majority insisted on expanding it to already insured middle-class children and adults. We can reform this program and keep it where it is supposed to be, and then we can move on to real health care reform. In his State of the Union address this year, the President proposed an idea to help every uninsured American, a proposal to end the outrageous discrimination by which those who have employer-based insurance get it with pretax dollars but the rest, who don't, have to pay more. We can do better for all Americans. We can help all the uninsured. And when this veto is sustained today, as it should be, let's reauthorize this program, but then let's reform health care for all the uninsured.”