Political Quotes

“I rise today to urge my colleagues to reauthorize Federal funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program. Children's health insurance is not a partisan issue in this country, and it never has been. In 1997, the bill to create the Children's Health Insurance Program passed with bipartisan support. It was introduced by the late Senator Ted Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and our colleague, Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican from Utah. This program has been a resounding success. Tens of millions of kids from all over the country have received access to preventive care, doctors' visits, prescriptions, dental and vision coverage as a result of this act of Congress. Children's healthcare is not a partisan issue in Nevada--the great State that I represent--either. Over the past 20 years, more than 60,000 of Nevada's kids have benefited from our State CHIP program, Nevada Check Up. Together with the gains we have made due to the ACA's Medicaid expansion, our rate of uninsured children has fallen by half, making our program one of the biggest successes in the country. Today, 9 million children from low-income families nationwide, including 27,000 from Nevada, get their health insurance through CHIP. If Congress continues to do nothing, those 9 million children will not be able to go to a doctor for their annual checkup; 9 million children will not be able to afford their prescriptions.…”