Political Quotes

“today I commemorate World Refugee Day, a day designated for our country to celebrate the multiple contributions that immigrants have made to make America a richer, more perfect union. It is tragic that while immigrants continue to make the fabric of our Nation stronger, many immigrants continue to be barred from vital safety net services including access to health care. For the past several years there has been heated discussion regarding the number of uninsured in America. There are uninsured children in every State, county and community in America. States have sought to address this issue through programs such as Medicaid and the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Through these Federal-State programs, States have been able to insure millions of eligible children. There has been recent success in providing coverage for those families and children who have gone without health insurance. We were pleased by the new census date on the number of uninsured in America. The data shows that the number of Americans without health insurance fell from 44.3 million to 42.6 million in 1999. This is the first decline since 1987. And this is good news. In the last Presidential campaign, Vice President Gore and then- Governor Bush focused on the critical importance of insuring our nation's children and families. Today Congress is struggling with how best to cover the nations uninsured.”