Glenn Thompson: “This 3-day Senate Democratic government shutdown is wrong, and it is time for the Senate Democrats to do their job. They…”

“This 3-day Senate Democratic government shutdown is wrong, and it is time for the Senate Democrats to do their job. They voted against a noncontroversial continuing resolution that fully funded the Children's Health Insurance Program for 6 years. This is perplexing because, for the past several months, nearly every Democrat has cited CHIP as one of their most important priorities--but, apparently, it is not more important than playing politics. Senate Democrats who voted against providing healthcare to 9 million vulnerable children need to be held accountable. The total number of children enrolled in the CHIP program in Pennsylvania in fiscal year 2016 was 342,268. That means that 12.8 percent of children in Pennsylvania are at risk of losing healthcare because of Senate Democrats playing partisan politics. Putting politics before the well-being of kids living in poverty and financially distressed homes is flat-out wrong. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to call on the Senators who have been blocking funding the Children's Health Insurance Program to open the Federal Government. Mr. Speaker, nobody benefits from the politics of a government shutdown, and millions of children are being hurt. ____________________”