Cliff Stearns: “today we will again vote on a Government-run health insurance program for children: one that only a handful of people in…”

“today we will again vote on a Government-run health insurance program for children: one that only a handful of people in the Democrat leadership have crafted, and one which only a handful of people received before it was introduced under the cover of night. The Democrat leadership, in the 110th Congress, has continually attempted to ram through legislation that has completely ignored the legislative process, and time after time nothing has been accomplished. This behavior is why this Democrat-led Congress has an abysmal 11 percent approval rate. The facts provided by the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, state that the bill before us today will provide free Government-run health care to a family, including adults, earning more than $60,000 a year. This bill will also increase taxes on tobacco, the revenue of which will not be set aside for this program, but rather will be put into the Treasury for general use. In addition, this bill allows over 10 percent of the funds allotted to provide health care for low-income children to be used by adults, therefore limiting the amount of money available for needy children. Finally, this legislation fails to ensure that illegal aliens, both children and adults, will not take money away from low-income American children. CBO estimates that under current documentation requirements, 3.7 billion taxpayer dollars will be spent on providing health care to people who have broken our laws and come to our country illegally.”