On the recordDecember 21, 2017
I am all in favor of keeping our government open. The difference that I have with my Republican colleagues is that I want to keep it open for everyone. Here, at Christmas, we think of the children first, but the children are not put first in this underlying bill. The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is barely left on life support. There are children out there right now, some with dreaded diseases or disabilities, and their access to a family physician is not assured because this Congress has not acted on the Children's Health Insurance Program. Instead of Christmas cards, they are about to get cancellation notices. And there are children who were brought here to America, through no fault of their own, without a visa. They grew up here. They only know this country. They have since passed a criminal background check. They had paid a fee, but their future is uncertain. They are called DREAMers because they have a dream of giving back to America and being full Americans, which they are, in everything but those legal papers. And we, in Congress, have our own responsibility. It is a responsibility to respond to their passionate pleas. We should not support another partisan Republican continuing resolution or appropriations process that does not assure the future of our 800,000 DREAMers.…





