Jon Kyl: “I will speak briefly to the Republican alternative--the amendment that will be voted on later as a comprehensive…”

“I will speak briefly to the Republican alternative--the amendment that will be voted on later as a comprehensive alternative to the bill. Unlike the Finance Committee bill, the Republican alternative achieves the following goals: First, it reauthorizes SCHIP and preserves health care coverage for millions of low-income children. Secondly, it adds 1.3 million new children to SCHIP coverage. Third, it provides $14 billion in new SCHIP allotments over the $25 billion baseline over the next 5 years. Fourth, the offset is with no new tax increases and, importantly, in contrast in the committee bill, no gimmicks to meet the budget considerations. Next, it includes funds for SCHIP coverage from fiscal year 2013 to 2017. This is important because the Finance Committee bill, in comparison, uses a budget gimmick to reduce the SCHIP funding spending over that critical period of time. As a result, the Republican alternative includes more money for SCHIP over 10 years--$85.1 billion as compared to the Finance Committee bill of $81.7 billion. Next, it minimizes the reduction in private coverage by targeting SCHIP funds to low-income children.”