Hilda L. Solis: “Mr. Speaker, I rise with a very heavy heart today in support of this so-called Children's Health Insurance Program…”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise with a very heavy heart today in support of this so-called Children's Health Insurance Program because I can't afford not to have our children covered. That is what SCHIP has been about for the last 10 years. We need to continue that service to those kids who are covered. It hopefully will not be dropped off, and we can continue to expand the program. I will tell you that I do have differences with our party, and especially the Republican Senate Members that refused to allow for coverage of legal permanent resident children and pregnant women. We passed a good bill, the CHAMP Act. We worked very hard, and I thank our leaders of our committee and our Members for allowing us the opportunity to provide interpretive services for hard-to-reach populations, to go out and do the right thing and to get more children enrolled. If we can send troops, send our soldiers to defend our country and yet not cover their families and their children, then we have moral corruption going on in this Congress. I support this bill.”