Dan Coats: “I just wonder where that figure came from and what it is based upon, because as the Senator from New Mexico has just…”

“I just wonder where that figure came from and what it is based upon, because as the Senator from New Mexico has just said and we all know, once the money is made available, those who are beneficiaries of the money, whether it is the States or whether we put it in Medicaid or wherever we put it, they will find a way to spend it. I do not think anybody is arguing that we do not want to address the issue of uninsured children, but I think what we were arguing is we want to do it in a responsible way, a way that is responsible to the taxpayers so that we do not just arbitrarily come up with a number without knowing the scope of the problem and what dollar amount needs to be applied to that. So my question really goes to the rationale that was used in arriving at the $16 billion initially by the Budget Committee.”