October 03,2007

Baucus Condemns Presidential Veto of Health Coverage for Millions of Low-Income American Children

Finance Chairman will not stop fighting for Children’s Health Insurance Program

Washington, DC – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) today
swiftly condemned President George W. Bush’s veto of legislation that would have
provided vital health coverage for ten million low-income American children. The
Children’s Health Insurance Program offers coverage to children whose parents do not
qualify for Medicaid, but cannot afford private insurance. Baucus worked with
Democratic and Republican colleagues in the Senate and in the House on the Children’s
Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, a $35 billion agreement that would have
preserved coverage for all 6.6 million children currently in the program, and extended
coverage to nearly four million more low-income, uninsured American kids.

“It is a shame that the President did not step away from his threats against this
children’s health bill. Let us be clear about what this veto means. The President is
saying that millions of low-income, uninsured American children must continue to
live with no health coverage while he presses his ideological concerns. He is willing
to put the health of children in jeopardy just to get his way.

“Thankfully, a strong, bipartisan majority in both chambers of Congress sees what
is at stake. CHIP works to get low-income, uninsured American children the
doctor’s visits and medicines they need to stay healthy. Republicans and
Democrats in the Senate and in the House know that the CHIP reductions
advocated by the President will cut children off from health care. And so the
Congress will work together, as we have all year on the Children’s Health Insurance
Program, to override this ill-considered veto. In the coming days, we will do what
the President has not done: we will stand up for American children in need.”

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