House Proceeding on Jan 14th, 2009 :: 0:00:00 to 0:20:00
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to the distinguished gentlewoman from florida, my colleague on the rules committee, who is also going to be on the committee of jurisdiction real soon, we are going to miss her on the rules committee, ms. castor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida is recognized for one minute. ms. castor: i thank my friend and colleague from florida. madam speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 2 and this rule that will provide millions of

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Kathy Castor: children across america with affordable health care at a time when families have been particularly hard hit by the economy. what good news for all americans one of the first bills president obama will sign will be one that improves access to quality affordable health care and reduces the cost of health care for families.

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Speech By: Kathy Castor

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Kathy Castor: . more affordable health care is essential to families. a healthy child is more likely to succeed in life. a healthy child is a healthy student. healthy students become productive adults. and a healthy child means more productive parents who do not miss work.

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Kathy Castor: here we ensure that newborn

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babies receive the medical checkups and immunizations that they need and ensure that toddlers are taken care of as they grow and ensure that we -- particularly diabetes and asthma. yet, despite all that we understand about the importance of healthy kids, millions of children and their families cannot afford to see a doctor.

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mr. hastings: yield 15 seconds. ms. castor: families are working hard to make ends meet but they're coming up short when it comes to health care. i'd like to especially thank speaker nancy pelosi who never gave up and kept her promise that in the first few days of a new congress with a new president the health of america's kids and the pocketbooks of hard-working american families would be

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paramount. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. sessions: it's pretty incredible, the number of speakers sat through the hearing yesterday and understood that this bill is not going to become law anytime soon. and yet we're down on the floor of the house of representatives touting how this will the first bill that our new president, president barack obama will sn.

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Marsha Blackburn: and yet testimony in the rules committee yesterday, a full admitans that we don't know whether all of this will make it or not. be interesting to see. madam speaker, at this time i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from the energy and commerce, mrs. blackburn. the speaker pro tempore: the

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Speech By: Marsha Blackburn

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Marsha Blackburn: gentlewoman from tennessee is recognized for, how many minutes, two minutes. mrs. blackburn: i do rise to oppose the bill and to oppose h.r. 2 that is covered in this rule. one of the reasons, mada speaker, is indeed the process. we've heard mention of it being a closed process and a closed rule. as indeed it is. and that doesn't speak to any type of bipartisanship.

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Marsha Blackburn: i had what i thought was a very germane amendment which was not allowed. and, madam speaker, what this would have done was to phase out coverage, phase out coverage for nonpregnant adults. now, this bill is schip, the state children's health insurance program.

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Marsha Blackburn: it is to cover low-income children. but we have a majority in charge in this house that is not taking this bill to the subcommittee, health subcommittee. it is not taking it to energy and commerce committee. it is bringing it straight to the floor. and in this bill that you will vote on is coverage, expanded

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Marsha Blackburn: coverage for adults. that indeed is unfortunate. as we have heard, there also are tax increases. there is a 0.8 billion tax increase over the next 10 years in this bill. it is tobacco taxes. the congressional research service, which is noartisan,

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Marsha Blackburn: calls tobacco taxes the most regressive of the federal taxes. that is included as a pay-for in this bill. for expanded coverage and changing of a block grant program that's worked successfully for low-income children, changing it to an

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Marsha Blackburn: entitlement program. there are aist of reasons to oppose this bill. weakening of eligibility requirements, weakening section 211, weakeni of your proof of

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Betty Sue Sutton: citizenship, proof of who you are, weakening those requirements, all of that delutz the rpose of the schip -- delutes the purpose of the schip program. oppose this rule. let's do this right. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: madam speaker,

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Speech By: Betty Sue Sutton

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Betty Sue Sutton: i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to my good friend from ohio, the distinguished gentlewoman, ms. sutton, also soon to be a member of the commerce committee and will be sorely missed on our committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized for two minutes.

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Betty Sue Sutton: ms. sutton: i thank the gentleman for his time on this critical bill. i rise in support of the state children's health insurance program. this legislation is long overdufort our nation's children. and i want to share a story about a girl from my district that puts this issue into perspective. i metros and her mother in an event back in my district in

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Betty Sue Sutton: ohio. and i'll never forget the moment that her mom introduced her to me. she looked at me full of hope and she in a moment reached out and she hugged me. and after rose walked away, her mom explained to me that her daughter had ccer and was preparing for a bone marrow transplant. bere i could even digest what her mom was saying that her

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Betty Sue Sutton: family was going through, dawn, her mother said, when are you guys going to pass schip because rose has insurance but there are a t of kids in this country who don't and they deserve the same opportunity for a future. and dawn was right. nearly nine million children in this country do not have health insurance. those kids need the same opportunity to have the health

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Betty Sue Sutton: care that they need. and in the midst of fighting

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cancer with her daughter, dawn found the courage and compassion to look beyond her struggle to stand up for kids across this nation without health insurance. and i share this story with my colleagues because today we have the opportunity to look beyond all differences, to finally pass this legislation.

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this bill will allow an additional four million children across this country, which includes 200,000 children in ohio, to obtain health insurance. and the urgency could not be more clear. with an ailing economy, the population of uninsured is growing, and we know that 1% increase in unemployment is projected to increase the

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Phil Gingrey: number of uninsured by 1.1 million kids. in these difficult economic times the least we can do is make sure that our children have access to the health care they need and deserve. i'm pleased to report that rose has received her bone marrow transplant and her eyes and her future are bright. let's do the same for the rest of america's kids.

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Speech By: Phil Gingrey

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Phil Gingrey: the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. sessions: thank you, madam speaker. at this time i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from the energy and commerce committee, dr. gingrey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. gingrey: i rise in opposition to the closed rule and the legislation, h.r. 2, the children's health insurance

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Phil Gingrey: program re-authorization act of 2009. i'm a strong advocate of the original schip program. i delivered over 5,000 children, and i know how important it is that the federal government plays a role in providing health care to low-income kids. at the same time, we must pass legislation that first reaches

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Phil Gingrey: those who are the most in need of assistance, those whose family incomes are between 100% and 200% of the poverty level, the original intent of t bill. but unfortunately, madam speaker, despite the spirit of bipartisanship that both president-elect obama and speaker pelosi have espoused,

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Phil Gingrey: this bill merely represents business as usual for the democratic majority. due to this hiley restricted closed rules -- due to this highly restricted closed rule, my colleagues and i will not give an amendment. my amendment would have addressed a very important problem with current law that h.r. 2 overlooks.

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Phil Gingrey: the practice of states, 13 of them, using loopholes to allow people to disregard significant portions of their income to make them eligible for championship and medicaid as well. -- for chip and medicaid as well. some states have been ignoring the children that demonstrate the most need for these

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Phil Gingrey: programs. madam speaker, my commonsense amendment would do this. it would institute a gross income cap of 250% of the federal poverty level for chip and medicaid eligibility and would limit any income disregard of a maximum of 50 a month or ,000 a year.

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Phil Gingrey: it would grandfather those individuals already receiving chip and medicaid funds so we do not provide curnt beneficiaries of health care. however, we're not going to get the chance, unfortunately, or any other thoughtful ame that were offered by my republican and democratic colleagues because the democratic majority leaders wished to contradict the

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Phil Gingrey: bipartisan spirit they touted a few weeks ago. oppose this closed rule and the

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Jared Polis: underlying legislation. we cld have made it better with amendments from both republicans and democrats. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: madam speaker, would you be so kind as to inform both sides as to the remaining amount of time? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida has 18

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Speech By: Jared Polis

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Jared Polis: 3/4 minutes remaining. hoist hoist -- mr. hastings: how many minutes? the speaker pro tempore: 18 1/4 minutes. mr. hastings: i'd like to yield to a gentleman that's going to be on the rules committee real soon, the distinguished

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Jared Polis: gentleman from colorado, mr. polis. the speaker pro tempore: jies. mr. polis: i would like to stand up in support of h.r. 2. i'd like to thank chairman rangel and dingell for sponsoring this legislation in the 110th congress. i already received numerous

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Jared Polis: letters and contacts from constituents who are worried about loss of health care coverage. we hear from those who loss their health care coverage or fear they will lose it because they can't afford it. this is a problem we can not afford to ignore. we must ensure that this bill passes the house and senate and reaches the new president's desk as soon as possible. it would provide health care coverage for more than 11

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Jared Polis: million children in colorado. there are over 100,000 uninsured childr who are eligible for schip and medicaid but are not yet enrolled. this is critical for our state and for our country. children can't help what family they're born into. and to ensure that every american has an opportunity to succeed, we must make sure that

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Jared Polis: children have access to health insurance regardless of their

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Judy Biggert: family background. this is an opportunity to protect millions of children who do not have a voice and safeguard their future, and that's why i urge you to support this legislation. thank you, madam speaker. the spear pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. sessions: i'd like to yield a minute and a half to the gentlewoman, mrs. biggert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from illinois is recognized for 90 seconds.

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Speech By: Judy Biggert

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Judy Biggert: mrs. biggert: i'd like to thank mr. sessions for yielding me this time. i rise in opposition to this rule. asany of my colleagues know, i'm a strong supporter of schip and worked for many months in the previous congress to bring republicans and democrats, both house and senate members together to work out a compromise bipaisan bill that

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Judy Biggert: would expand the program, of schip, responseably while making sure that poor american children remain a top priority in all states. i know i'm not alone in supporting a renewal and expansion of this program to serve more low-income children, and i know that members on both sides of the aisle believe that schip could -- should cover our most vulnerable children first.

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Judy Biggert: these children are in families 200% or lower the poverty level. so last night i went to the rules committee with an amendment that would do just that, put poor children first, co-sponsored by a number of my colleagues and would do three things. first require states to collect data on their success on

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Judy Biggert: covering these low-income children. and second, states draft and implement a plan that works towards reducing the uninsured rate among low-income children. i'd ask the secretary of the health and human services to approve these plans if they're reasonable. finally, ask states to reduce 10% or less the uninsured rate among children and families 200% and below the poverty

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Judy Biggert: level. until states have met this 90% coverage goals, they would be prohibited from using schip funds to provide benefits to newer populations at higher level incomes. this is a commonsense way that

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Alcee L. Hastings: we can ensure that states are using taxpayer dollars wisely and getting health care to the kids that need it most. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: madam speaker, i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to my good friend and the distinguished gentleman from texas, mr. edwards, who

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Speech By: Alcee L. Hastings

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Chet Edwards: when this program had its inception in 1997 was an original co-sponsor of this i was discussing the children's health insurance program when one of the employees there, lindsay brewer, heard of our conversation and asked if she

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Speech By: Chet Edwards

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Chet Edwards: could say something. in deeply heartfelt words lindsay told me her 9-year-old daughter, emily, has had leukemia for the past two years. you see, lindsay and her husband both work. but like millions of hardworking americans they don't have health insurance because their employers can't afford it. despite their modest combined

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Chet Edwards: annual income with both parents working, their income of under 0,000, the brewers were devastated to find out that they were told they were ineligible for chip program. the brewers are two loving, hardworking parents who through no fault of theirs or their daughter's are facing medical

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Chet Edwards: bills totaling $ 100,000,-- ,233,000 and growing every day. they want to be good roleodels for emily and her brothers. that's why i consider chip to be pro-family and pro-work. i met emily this week. after hearing her story. this is her photograph. she's a beautiful little third grader making straight a's and

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Chet Edwards: working in karate class. this bill isn't about all the various rules and procedures that have been discussed. this bill is billion emily brewer and her future. it's about her family and their future. it's about honoring the values,

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the pro-work values of mr. and mrs. brewer and millions of other parents like them. madam speaker, i'd ask every member one question before ty vote on this bill today. if emily brewer were your child, or your granddaughter how would you vote? i hope the answer is yes because the brewer family and millions

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of others like them are waiting to see how we vote. vote yes on expanding the children's health insurance program. these families deserve no less. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas. mr. sessions: at this time, i'd like to yield a minute and a half to the distinguished gentleman from miami, florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is

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Lincoln Diaz-Balart: recognized for a minute and a half. mr. diaz-balart: i thank my friend. thank you, madam speaker. it's unfortunate the rule is closed. it's such an important issue we are discussing. for example a new member of the majority party came before us in the rules committee, with a very thoughtful amount. it was rejected. not permitted for debate. that's unfortunate. unnecessary.

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Speech By: Lincoln Diaz-Balart

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Lincoln Diaz-Balart: i had said last year, madam speaker, that i wasn't going to support a major expansion of schip until legal immigrant children were included. because we should not discriminate against legal immigrants. i represent south florida. i represent hundreds of thousands of immigrants. so i made clear, i'm not going

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Lincoln Diaz-Balart: to support an expansion of schip until they are included. well, they e in the legislation that we are going to vote on today. so i'm going to vote for it. and i commend the leadership for having included it. and i think the senate has to do the same. as i said before, it was a sinny

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Lincoln Diaz-Balart: quo none -- sine quo non for me. until legal immigrant children were included i wouldn't support it. it's a good day. we'll have a vote on this program that is going to include thousands of children and their moms who unfairly have been excluded.

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Bart Stupak: by the way that affects kids in school and the other children in school, when the children who are sick have to go to the emergency room or when they are sick in the classroom, they affect all the kids in the classroom. it doesn't make sense. and they are legal in this country. anyway, i'm going to be supporting the legislation today. i thank my friend. the speaker pro tempore: the

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Speech By: Bart Stupak

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Bart Stupak: gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from florida. mr. hastings: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to my classmate and good friend, the distinguished gentleman from michigan, a member of the energy and commerce committee, mr. stupak. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes. mr. stupak: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding me time. i rise today in support of the

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Bart Stupak: rule on h.r. 2, the children's health insurance program re-authorization act. the chip program. the chip program was enacted under president clinton with bipartisan support to help reduce the number of low-income uninsured children by expanding eligible levels and simply filing the application process. in 2006, chip provided insurance

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Bart Stupak: to 6.7 million children. in michigan roughly 31,000 children are enrolled making michigan one of the states with the fewest uninsured children in the country. 86% of the children enrolled in my child are from working families that are unable to afford private health insuran for their children.

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Bart Stupak: meanwhile, health care through chip program is cost-effective. according to the congressional budget office, it cost as mere .34 a day, or 00 a month to cover a child under the chip program. furthermore, chip is vitally important to children living in our country's rural regions. of the 50 counties with highest