Political Quotes

“Today is another great day for American families. Later this afternoon, President Obama will sign the State Children's Health Insurance program Reauthorization into law. Just one week ago, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law--a bill which restores basic protection against pay discrimination. When women do better, families do better, and the Lilly Ledbetter Act will make it easier for families to pay for day-to-day expenses like groceries, child care and doctor's visits. We build on the enactment of family security legislation today by providing health care coverage for 11 million children. In this commonsense legislation, we will preserve coverage for the roughly 7 million children currently covered by SCHIP and extend coverage to 4.1 million uninsured children who are currently eligible for, but not enrolled in, SCHIP and Medicaid. As the third largest S-CHIP program in the nation, New York reduced the number of uninsured children in the State by 40%. We are only one of seven states to achieve a decline of that magnitude and I am so pleased that we will further strengthen children's access to health care today. During this time of economic distress, we must remember that the S-CHIP program is a critical part of our health care safety net and more broadly our family security safety net. S-CHIP has served New York and our country well, and I commend the Speaker for working so diligently on behalf of our nation's kids.”