Orrin Hatch: “I thank my colleague. He is accurate on everything except one thing; that is, the 6 million children whom we were…”

“I thank my colleague. He is accurate on everything except one thing; that is, the 6 million children whom we were supposed to cover, we did on an annualized basis, but really only about 4.5 million were covered fully. I wanted to add that little bit because it is apparent this program has worked. It is apparent it has worked well under this administration as well as under the Clinton administration. It is apparent it has helped millions of kids who otherwise would not have been helped. It is apparent it has helped the children of the working poor. But it has not helped all of those who deserve that help. And, over the long run, if we help them today, it will save us money and problems in the future. Frankly, this is an important debate. I acknowledge there are people who disagree. There were back then when we first created CHIP. But the fact is, this is a program which has worked. The administration has admitted it has worked. The Governors have admitted it has worked. Maybe it is mired in politics that I wish we were not mired in. My attitude is, let's think of the kids. If there is a way of improving it, I am certainly open to that, but we have come a long way, in a bipartisan way, to get where we are. That is not an easy accomplishment in a Congress that has been pretty partisan in many respects. I do not think some have really recognized how difficult it was to get to where we are and how many concessions both sides have made, in particular the House.”