Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we have made great strides in recent years ensuring that Americans of all ages have access to quality health care. Part of this success comes from the Children's Health Insurance Program created in 1997 as a joint State-Federal health insurance program for low- to moderate-income children and pregnant women. Because of CHIP, 10 million children, including 130,000 children in my State--most of whom are sons and daughters of working parents who are in low-income jobs and not making enough money to afford insurance and for employers that typically don't offer insurance--have access to health care today--health care they may not have received otherwise. We know CHIP works not just in the number of children insured under the program but because of the flexibility CHIP provides States and the quality of care children receive. It works. It works for children, it works for parents, and it works for communities. That is the good news. The bad news is, even though the law is on the books until 2019, the funding for CHIP will expire in September. That is why I am proud to introduce legislation today with my colleagues Senators Stabenow, Wyden, Casey, and Leader Reid to protect the CHIP program and to extend its funding to match the authorization until 2019. The Protecting and Retaining our Children's Health Insurance Program--PRO-CHIP--Act is straightforward, it is common sense, and will provide much needed budget predictability for our States.…”