Orrin Hatch: “ensuring that America's kids have access to quality medical care is among my top priorities in the Senate. That is why…”

“ensuring that America's kids have access to quality medical care is among my top priorities in the Senate. That is why, long ago, I reached across the aisle to create the revolutionary Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. I am proud to call CHIP my own. Teddy Kennedy and I faced an uphill battle to get this bill passed, but we were willing to take the heat because we knew it was the right thing to do--he came on board shortly after I filed this bill--and I have never regretted it. For more than 20 years, CHIP has served as a literal lifeline for millions of children whose families could not have otherwise afforded health insurance. Without exaggeration, this groundbreaking program has saved thousands of young lives, and it has long stood as a symbol of what our two parties can accomplish when we look beyond the horizon of our differences to find common ground. Sadly, in today's Washington, the bipartisan spirit that breathed life into CHIP has been all but snuffed out. As a case in point, the Democrats are now holding this healthcare program hostage to their own radical agenda, using it as a bargaining chip in a dangerous political game. After months of hard work and good faith negotiation, the progressives have, effectively, walked away from a once-in-a-generation deal to extend CHIP for 6 years--the longest extension in the program's history and something I would like to do.…”