James Barrett: “instead of the reauthorization of a successful plan, the majority party is trying to reinvent the government health care…”

“instead of the reauthorization of a successful plan, the majority party is trying to reinvent the government health care wheel by proposing a $35 billion expansion of the current SCHIP plan. The current SCHIP plan has proven itself successful because it now provides approximately 6.6 million low-income children with government-funded health care services annually. By the way, only 13 percent of this money will actually go to children anyway. If we allow the vetoed SCHIP bill to pass, the intent of the original SCHIP program, which is to provide health care insurance to children of low-income families who are unable to afford private coverage, will be lost. This bill would allow families earning an annual income $83,000 a year to take advantage of a program designed to help low-income, uninsured children. Voting against the SCHIP bill reflects a disagreement for the manner in which the health care coverage will be distributed and to whom. The SCHIP bill needs to be authorized, but can be and should be done in a fiscally responsible manner. I will vote to sustain the President's veto for this bill because it will overlook the children it was first intended for.”