María Elvira Salazar: “today I rise first to praise the bipartisan spirit in which the Children's Health Insurance Program came to this floor…”

“today I rise first to praise the bipartisan spirit in which the Children's Health Insurance Program came to this floor and was accepted by this Chamber on a positive vote of 68 votes saying yes to providing health insurance to the young children of America. It was one of the finer moments, it seems to me, of the last year in this Chamber, where Democrats and Republicans came together and said: Yes, we can do this for all of the right reasons. It was a circumstance where, with the leadership of Senator Baucus and Senator Grassley of the Finance Committee and Senator Hatch and Senator Rockefeller, IV, who basically were the key movers and shakers in trying to move this package forward, they said: We are going to put aside our partisan differences, and we are going to put together a package that we can make sure receives bipartisan support on the floor of the Senate. At the end of the day, that package did, in fact pass, and today and over the next several days, hopefully, we will get that legislation to the President's desk for his signature. It is my hope the President does sign this bill. It is my imploration to the President that he sign the bill on behalf of our Nation's children. Covering our kids, providing them with the kind of preventive care, with the kind of doctors and nurses that they need, will ensure that they grow up healthy and that they grow up strong. These have been the goals of our bipartisan work in this Chamber over the last many months.”