Dave Camp: “First, I would like to make one point perfectly clear. Republicans support health care for low-income children. We…”

“First, I would like to make one point perfectly clear. Republicans support health care for low-income children. We support reauthorizing the program we passed in 1997. And that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. After all, it was the Republican majority that created the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and we did it in a bipartisan manner. Today, sadly, we do not have a bipartisan bill before us. When we talk about insuring the Nation's needy children, we should talk about it in a bipartisan way. And if the majority had crafted a bill that was just about helping low-income children, we would stand here today ready to overwhelmingly approve that legislation. Unfortunately, this bill doesn't focus on low-income children. Instead, it draws scarce resources away from these needy children in order to take a giant leap toward universal, government-controlled health care. Worst of all, this dramatic step comes at the expense of Medicare, seniors' health insurance, in order to give middle-class and even upper middle-class families a new Federal health benefit. These are not minor cuts in senior health care.”