Al Franken: “I rise today to talk about the urgent need for action on the Children's Health Insurance Program and other vital safety…”

“I rise today to talk about the urgent need for action on the Children's Health Insurance Program and other vital safety net programs. On September 30 of this year, 3 weeks ago, funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, expired, and funding for community health centers also expired, as did funding for the National Health Service Corps. These three cornerstone programs provide essential health services to hundreds of thousands of my constituents and to millions of people across the country. Although these programs have historically secured strong bipartisan support and, ostensibly, still do today, the Republican majority has not moved these bills forward toward passage, and it is really time to act. My home State of Minnesota is one of the first States to exhaust its funding for its Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, a program that covers 125,000 low-income children and 1,700 pregnant women. While the Federal Government has provided some emergency stop-gap funding, that, too, is slated to run out by the end of November. Minnesota has a long tradition of insuring coverage to vulnerable populations. So coverage for low-income children will continue, no matter what.…”