Jay Rockefeller: “may I make a further comment? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.”

Without congressional action, I say again, CHIP will run out of funding next fall, placing at risk the well-being of hundreds of thousands of children and pregnant women.

Creating this program has been one of the most meaningful things I have done in my career in public service.

We urge Congress to, first and foremost, adopt a 4-year extension of CHIP funding through 2019.

It is not right to shift the added financial burdens onto working families when a cost-effective solution for maintaining the coverage they already have exists.