Chuck Grassley: “soon the Senate will be debating the Children's Health Insurance Program. I might refer to that from time to time as…”

“soon the Senate will be debating the Children's Health Insurance Program. I might refer to that from time to time as CHIP, C-H-I-P, Children's Health Insurance Program. This program is sunsetting in a week. The program was started 10 years ago, a product of a Republican-led Congress. It is a targeted program. It is a program designed to provide affordable health coverage for low-income children of working families. Those are families, working families, who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but struggle to afford private insurance and may not even have it. Last July, because this program has to be reauthorized right now, the Senate Finance Committee reported bipartisan legislation to enhance and improve CHIP by a strong vote of 17 to 4. In August, the Senate passed the Finance bill with the same bipartisan support by a vote of 68 to 31. On Tuesday, 265 Members of the House of Representatives voted for the bill that now will be before the Senate. That bill is a product of informal conferencing between the House and Senate. Clearly, we have a bill with strong bipartisan support.”