know message by the president on the bill h r ninety seven sex with the clerk or with court by title h r nine seventy six and act two and then title twenty one of the social security act to extend improve the children's health insurance program and for other purposes a question is will the house on reconsideration pass a bill the objections of the president to the contrary notwithstanding the gentleman from michigan mr dingell is recognized for one hour i will also yield fifteen minutes of my time to the distinguished gentleman from new york my friend mr ringold and ask unanimous consent that he be permitted to control that time madam speaker i also ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and  do what is right for america's children the debate here is about one thing only health care for kids some of try to change the subject obfuscating this debate with this conceptions half truths and outright lies whether visions let me allow them to explain for themselves and let us help them understand the legislation first the bill that terminates the coverage of adults under the chip program i repeat of federal funds for illegal aliens and section six zero five plainly states so third the bill is paid for and will not increase the national debt in fact cvo estimates this bill if it acted well in fact return money to the treasury the legislation before us would provide health care and health insurance coverage for ten million needy american children it provides funding for states to enroll millions of low income children who are already eligible for benefits yet remain uninsured under current law these boys and girls are entitled to their benefits continuing  to this situation of not providing them is a travesty i am not alone in this do former surgeons general for presidents carter reagan and bush put an end for this current president recently wrote in support of this legislation the following we implore you not to put off the health needs of our nation's children please act today this legislation has a strong back of the entire medical computing children's advocates educators school administrators and school boards as well as insurance companies across the country and forty three of the nation's governors what s chip and acted because they know children cannot learn if they are not well they also know something else these are the most vulnerable people in our society we will be judged how we care for them but beyond that this didn't this the democratic side fired more than three hundred organizations  basic principles on which all of us should agree press voles it should be embodied in a bipartisan piece of legislation and i would suggest there are five first of all that we should put the poorest children at the front of  that means we should require states actually enroll ninety percent of their s chip and medicaid eligible children under their two hundred percent of the poverty line before they start enrolling children at higher income levels to no families with incomes above two hundred fifty percent of the federal poverty level should be eligible for federal s chip funds states that want to go above that should feel free to do so with their own funds but hardworking taxpaying families in the midwest and the southeast shouldn't be forced to subsidize the health care for children and families in the richer states who are making over eighty two thousand dollars per year third no chip funds for adults other than pregnant women beginning in two thousand and nine we should give the states a year to transition their low income adults to medicaid which is where they belong and stop taking away limited resources from needy children and giving them to childless adults for keeping the existing federal requirement that states actually document the citizenship and identity of all of the applicants for medicaid and clearly state in the bill that illegal immigrants are prohibited from ceding medicaid or s chip benefits being able to write down a social security number doesn't actually prove your united states citizen federal benefits should not go to illegal immigrants fia no millionaires in s chip we should simply put a million dollar net asset cap on eligibility for federal s chip funds if you have over a they sense of bipartisanship especially to my republican friends and to remind you that comes the next election president bush is going to be he there at his ranch in texas and he will not be with you at the polls i say that because by that time the truth will have caught up with the message that the president is giving and most of you are you using to sustain the president's veto let me get to the one that i'm most familiar with this eighty three thousand dollar ability of people to enjoy as chip no one is more familiar with this than i am it was the great state of new york that exercise its request for a waiver to ask the president of the united states whether or not a family of four would be allowed to buy and even though they were making eighty three thousand dollars and guess what under existing law not new law the president nine estates is hell no you can't do it and so we got to emphasize over and over again you could ask what was a million dollars because it's not an entitlement it is a block grant mcgovern's can ask for anything they want over two hundred percent over poverty and the president republican a democrat or whoever she might be would be able to say no you're not going to be able to do it so not that out and for all of the people that are upset with immigrants legal or illegal we're just going to put in big letters so that by the time november gets here that in the bill that the president vetoed it says no illegal alien can receive the benefits of the bill and sense you are so against adults receiving benefits the bill is a live in aiding adult so if you can't be with us today can try to think i hear stuff in november and maybe we can work out something  program with a stable funding source it was a truly paid for program throughout the process this year we've been talking about the fact that this s chip reauthorization that's before the house today is not paid for it's paid for only if you accept the budget gimmick that is used to make it appear on paper over the ten year budget one though that the program is paid for but i don't think any of us realize just how steep that cliff in the bill is until today because last night my staff received from the nonpartisan congressional budget office new numbers that show very clearly that under the bill that's before us today total enrollment in s g up is expected to drop by six and a half million children in the second five years of the program does anybody believe that is going to happen of course not but the way the bill is designed that's what would happen we know that's not going to be reality under this bill the way it's designed democrats would have people believe that s chip enroll munt kids enrolled in this program will drop to only one point three million baht twenty seventeen well today we have two point nine million kids enrolled in the program  alex strike that under under realistic expansion of the program which the president has proposed and we support there will be two point nine million kids enrolled in the program in tw seventeen so under this bill this before us today you'd have one point six million fewer kids enrolled in s chip then you would under the president's budget that's not realistic we know that's not going to happen so how does that problem get fixed after five years massive tax increases that's how it gets fixed we this house will be back here having to finance the real cost of that then existant s chip program over the next five years which c b l estimates will require about another forty billion dollars in revenues over and above the new thirty five billion dollars that this bill would impose on the american taxpayers so there is a better way it's the way we created for this program in the first place a bipartisan fiscally responsible truly fiscally responsible program to help kids in need i hope that the majority will be willing to join with us all of us to create that bipartisan program again when this veto is sustained and with that  not like that if you don't like a tobacco tax but that's how it's paid for and it's a good way to pay for it secondly this idea that the president's alternative will not take kids off the rolls that is simply not true with the president's alternative eight hundred thousand children that are now covered by s chip will not have s chip anymore the president's veto this bill was a slap in the face not only to this congress but to the millions of children who without this bill will continue to be uninsured or worse lose the insurance they currently have and this is the truth about schip just listen up the bipartisanship proposal is supported by seventy two percent of the american people two thirds of the senate the majority of the house forty three state governors and more than three hundred organizations nationwide the president is deluding himself that he doesn't think this veto is going to hurt millions of children and unless we override there are just going to be a lot of kids who simply cannot go to the doctor and would have to go to the emergency room what we sent to the president was a reasonable bipartisan bill that would cover four million previously uninsured low income children most of whom are in working families a total of ten million the vast majority of these kids of the very lowest income children who have no other options for care the president claims this bill covers rich kids but it's not true senator hatch who helped write this bill said ninety two percent of the kids will be under two hundred percent of the poverty level the president has also said that this bill opens the door to government sponsored health care because it encourages families to drop their coverage simply not true c b s said that that is not the case the best way to avoid crowd out is to basically pass this bill the problem is we continue to get inaccurate information from the other side of the aisle i would urge my republican colleagues today to vote with their conscience instead of with this misguided loyalty to the president who is out of touch with america's families  again here on the house floor i think we miss the point sometimes on what this is about this isn't about sometimes the nuances of all of this this is about where we take this nation and i'm seeing this debate in iowa and across this country and what this is about  s chip stands for socialized clinton style hillary care for illegals and their parents that's what happens and it is illegals that are being funded by this because they can only have to do is write down a social security number the  congressional budget office has given us a number six point five billion dollars in costs additional costs that flow over to people that are not citizens because we lowered the standards whatever gets said that's the language that's in here and the cost is there are six point five billion so this is s chip socialized clinton style hillary care for illegals and their parents this is a cornerstone of socialized medicine it's put in place that's what this debate is about make people dependent so that they don't have false there is no treatment in this for illegals there's no treatment in this for their purpose this is not socialized medicine it is supported by the health care industry it is also supported by the insurance industry it is  an additional ten million children they sure don't care about finding two hundred billion dollars to fight the illegal war in iraq or you're going to get that money going to tell us lie like you're telling us today is that how you're going to fund the war you don't have money to fund the war or children but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement this bill would provide health care for ten million children and unlike the president's own kids these children can see a doctor receive necessary care six billion are insured through the children's health insurance program and they'll do better in school and in life in california the president's veto will cause the legislature to drop emergency regulations to cut some eight hundred thousand children off the rolls in california and create a waiting list i hope by california republican colleagues will understand that if they don't vote to override this veto they are destroying health care for many of our children in california in a previous job as an actor our governor used to play make believe and blow things up well president the republicans in congress are playing make believe today with children's lives they claim we can't afford health care they say the bill of socialized medicine tell that orrin hatch chuck grassley and ted stevens those socialists on the other side of this capitol the truth is chip program unable states to cover children primarily through write about health care plans but the president bush's statements about children's health shouldn't be taken any more seriously that his lies about the war in iraq the truth is that bush just likes to blow things up in iraq in the united states and in congress i urge my colleagues to vote to override his veto america's children need and deserve health care despite the president's desire to deny it to them i reserve the balance of my time everything reminded not sure i refer to the president in any personal way speaker that gentle reminder is not enough it is despicable to have a member of this congress accuse the president any president to willfully blowing the heads quote blowing the heads off our young men and women over in iraq and afghan having a brother who is an army medic and served in iraq having spent this weekend with family who lost their son in iraq it is beneath contempt beneath contempt to have a member of congress staying here and accuse the president of in effect assassinating our troops in iraq and afghanistan it is dead wrong and it is it is beneath contempt as well that we will sit here silently and allow such a remark to be tolerated excepted if not embraced now go to you know member on this side will stand up here and disavow those remarks unfortunately today it is bad enough that we are playing politics with the war now we're playing politics with our kids the claim the three republicans don't support this program is equally untrue we created it this is a great  program it's keeps kids healthy it helps their families avoid serious illness keeps them out of our emergency rooms it's a great program when we create it we did the right way we sat down with the president president clinton we worked out a good plan for kids and then more importantly we believed enough to pay for it we paid for the whole ten years this plan does not it is only half paid for i would ask the gentleman i was thirty seconds it's only half paid for it's just like these predatory loans the first years affordable that it blooms beyond what we can pay for we believe in it let's pay for it now it allows abuses to continue it doesn't cover the poor kids first my question trigger i'm delighted to yield to the distinguished gentleman from utah mr rasmussen one minute gentleman from utah is recognized for one minute thank you madam speaker i've wanted caring for our children is always the right thing to do every parent in my state of utah and in this country knows that access to health care and preventive medicine for our kids is the right thing to do it's been ten years ago that we passed this program it's helped insure more than six million children and that's a good thing and we made that type of progress even as health care costs have gone up and the number of people struggling to get and to pay for health insurance is in priest we made that progress through the children's health insurance program because it's a model that works the states do their part the federal government does it part private insurance does its part and the families through co pays and premiums do their part as well at a time when it's often tough to make progress on important issues why would we want to turn our back on our kids and stop progress in its tracks you know as members of congress none of us have to worry about this we all have insurance for our kids we don't need to worry about being one huge medical bill away from facing bankruptcy let's think about the folks who are in the same situation that we all have as members of congress the best investment we can make is in our kids i urge congress to override the president's veto  know there's been a lot of rhetoric today and a lot of talk about polling and how americans everywhere support this governor support this law people at the local level supported this we have in this country something called representative government we are sent here and we are given access to figures and numbers that perhaps others don't have what figures the numbers i'm talking about tell us that we cannot sustain the trend that we're on particularly  ramping up a program like this and spending more than we have in the past we simply can't sustain it particularly when gimmicks are used in the out years to pay for and we know that perhaps those who are responding to the polls do not george washington once said if to please the people we do what we ourselves disapprove how will we afterwards defend our work that's what we're here for to do what we know is right when i'm told you to do what your conscience says my conscience says that we can't afford this if we have to use gimmicks in the out years to pay for it we simply can't afford to expand this program and we'll ban it expired just california now speaker i'd like to recognize a distinguished member of the ways and means committee gentle lady from pennsylvania who one like the republicans has had some experience with the truth and knows that occasionally it hurts how much time do you know how much time this is one minute jealous woman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute and thank you very much the the president has rejected legislation to strengthen expand chip for ten million children of hardworking american families the president's veto makes it clear that he has chosen to ignore the financial struggles of working families in this country who are on able to afford health care for their children his veto makes clear that health care for america's children simply is not a priority for him and the republicans in this chamber support his veto today illustrate that they like the president does not understand or has chosen to ignore how well chip has worked and how positively has impacted the lives of millions of american families the nation's governors health care providers jones advocates insurance executives labor unions religious leaders parents and grandparents all support chips affordable coverage for millions of american children they know the president's veto is shortsighted it's callous and it's wrong today is the day of decision to stand with the president to stand with america's children ten million american children and their families are waiting i yield back gentleman yield back to tillman from louisiana madam speaker at jan and we all want to reauthorize it but we need to put low income kids first this bill would expand the program to families making more than sixty thousand dollars a year that's not low income it's a majority of the households in america there's a better way reauthorize asked shipping keep it focused on truly needy children and then tackle rising health care costs that are squeezing middle class families tax credits could help dan and i have million kids from middle income families gain or keep their health care coverage millions more would benefit if families could purchase less expensive health plans from across state lines less defeat this motion and get the work on making health care more affordable for all americans  from new mexico as wilson one minute gentleman from new mexico is recognized for one minute thank you mr speaker ten years ago the children's health insurance program passed with a republican congress and a democratic president now we're trying to reauthorize it with a democratic congress and a republican president we should be able to do this and we should be able to do it in a bipartisan way the children's health insurance program has reduced number of uninsured children in this country and has given them access to primary care they live healthier lives because of it this is not a great bill but it is a good bill and i have supported this bill and i encourage my colleagues to support it again today in particular it phases out the participation of adults in this program this program is for kids for low income kids not for adults and pretty successful administrat been approving the addition of adults to the program and that was not its intent new mexico in particular will benefit from this program because it allows lower income kids to be participants in the program because of gentleman from tennessee is recognized one minute thank you madam speaker we do all know what this debate is about but i think there is still confusion about the context of this bill and the content of this bill we have heard our colleagues cross else saying that it has to with supporting health care for disadvantaged children but unfortunately that is not exactly what this bill does we are all for health care for children of the working poor but some of the things that this bill is about it would move a very successful and popular block grant program to an entitlement it would provide free taxpayer funded health care to illegal immigrants it would add more adults and what the i r s our own i r s calls high income families to the government healthcare rolls that would remove people from private insurance and put them over on the government rolls it would in many cases replace the doctor patient relationship with a bureaucrat making a decision it doesn't live president bush made the mistake of vetoing the children's children's health insurance program or chip contradicting an explicit pledge he made during the two thousand and four campaign to quote lead an aggressive effort to make sure uninsured children receive health coverage guaranteeing them a healthy start in life instead of living up to that promise he is not denying millions of children access to high quality affordable health care chip is a vital program for both the nation and the state of new york since one nine hundred ninety seven it has proven to be a popular successful program covering six point six million children nationwide and helping to reduce the number of uninsured children in my state of new york by forty percent the he vetoed would help six hundred two hundred sixty eight thousand more of new york's kids the president has said that children don't need health care all they need to do when they get sick is go to an emergency room i'm not sure if that comment a member of the health subcommittee of the ways and means committee be permitted to allocate the remainder of the time on my side that that a democratic president would sign a bill presented by a republican congress and that that would be a high water mark as far as consensus between a divided government ten years ago the high water mark of a divided government coming together to create a solution in that instance and i was here to help create the bill and that instance a republican congress worked with negotiated with compromised with the president of the other party to create a solution to the problem of children who had no health insurance and i would say madam speaker that the two thousand and seven version of the children's health insurance program is almost unrecognizable from the original bill and certainly beyond the original intent of that bill for instance new jersey currently has a planned amendment that would use income disregards which would allow it to raise its s chip eligibility levels to three hundred for fifty percent of poverty that's about seventy one thousand dollars for a family of four and don't just take my word for it look at section one fourteen some paragraph a under the bill and that would continue under  many adults without children would be eligible under this bill don't take my word for it read sub paragraph a of section one twelve of the bill you know the bill allows states to move them to medicaid but allows it to pay additional thirty that the federal government should not be in my humble opinion in the business of paying for states who want to cover childless adults that are grandfathered in this bill and on behalf of my constituents in missouri should i ask them to reach in their pockets  then and to pay for health care for a family of four new jersey macon seventy thousand or a family of four in new york making eighty thousand so it comes down to this and fact there are still seventy nine thousand it's in missouri madam speaker that are still at or below two hundred percent of poverty those are the kids we need to reach out to to provide health insurance so the question at the end of this vote is this to my friends on the other side do you want the politics generally kind of guy or do you want the policy down of michigan speaker when it comes to the war on terror the president is always quick to remind members of the international community that there are the with us or against us there is no neutral or impossible position that can their children or you don't it's just that simple and i've heard the specious claims that s chip is a form of socialized medicine the president not call it socialized medicine when he promised the american people he was seen to expand the program when he was accepting the party's nomination for a second term then again how can it be socialized medicine when it covers ten million children and not be socialized medicine for six million children and the outrageous claim that this congress is neglecting port children is inaccurate we already provide assistance to poor children through medicaid s chip is designed to provide assistance to those working families whose incomes are too high to qualify for medicaid and too low to perch as private health care coverage if you do not want to provide relief to middle income families you should just have the guts to say so but the come here to the flow and mislabeled this bill as socialized medicine or choose democrats of not prioritizing the needs of america's children sure those of you who plan to vote this is then the veto to reconsider your position think of how devastated you would be if your children and grandchildren had to go without basic health care imagine the hopelessness and despair you would feel in such a situation this is where we are today because when you cast your votes today you have a stand with our children or you stand against them madam speaker i rise today saying that i support expansion of the children's health care program but not in its current form and here's why half of the one point two new enroll million new enrollees in the expansion of s chip under this proposal already have insurance already have insurance surance and that's according to the congressional budget office when it comes to adults they cost sixty percent more to care for than kids this program should be about helping expand coverage to children whose families do not have access to health insurance i spent twenty one years in small business i'd never sign a contract that i knew i couldn't keep my word on this bill is funded after year five in year six according to gresham budget office this program is short about eighty percent beyond that it if we took that million and a half adults off of this program and put them on medicaid which they're eligible to do then that would free up funds that could go to help kids in fact i think it's about seven hundred eighty thousand adults in two thousand and twelve would still be on this program that would fund a million and animatronics by one hundred fifty thousand children who could be put on medicaid tellme california matter speaker i'm delighted to recognize this english gentleman from illinois the chairman of the democratic caucus who has a brilliant three minute speech  she has three children and would like to buy private health care but can't afford to do so to lower sweeney's children are in s f and without s chip program they would go without health care or she would have to go without a job our bill does right by sweeney and that other ten million children from working families i believe that you care about the poor but i wonder why you voted to cut eight billion dollars from medicaid i believe that you think this is excessive cost but you never said that about the six hundred eighty billion dollars for iraq no questions asked and i believe that you say that this is a tax payer funded government run healthcare just like the health care your kids get in the federal government program this is exactly that i believe the sincerity your positions but time and again when it came to standing up for poor kids you cut medicaid when it came to excessive costs you provided six hundred eighty billion dollars for the war in iraq time when it comes to government funded health care it's good enough for your kids is good enough for  madam speaker i believe that every child deserves proper health care i support s chip for know with increased funding and i also support its expansion but i believe it must be done in a responsible manner a manner that ensure valuable resources target our nation's most vulnerable children without unnecessarily expanding the program to those who do not need it according to the congressional budget office of the four million children who would receive coverage under the current proposal approximately forty percent already have private insurance our dialogue should should focus on our children who are uninsured able sick children who have exhausted private coverage and families who cannot afford coverage for their children yesterday i introduced a measure that seeks to achieve this goal congress now has the opportunity to engage in a productive bipartisan discussion focusing on strengthening the s chip program thank you madam speak need deserve and currently are eligible for health insurance under the chip program they can stand with the bipartisan majorities in the house and senate who supported compromise legislation to reauthorize chip including eighteen republican senators and forty five house republicans they can stand with the state's governors the american medical association the association of health insurance plans pharmaceutical companies nurses children's advocates and most importantly most importantly they can stand with the american people eighty one percent of whom support expanding the chip program to cover more low income children according to a just released s news poll this poll of course was taken long after the american people knew exactly what the terms of this bill are all about eighty one percent including a large over two thirds majority of independents and including over sixty percent of the republicans polled believe that we ought to move forward on this bill or mr speaker house republicans can choose today to stand with president bush who earlier this month broke his own campaign promise to extend insurance coverage under chip to millions of additional low income american children low income american children they can stand they can choose to stand with president bush who continues to make in accurate and misleading claims about the bipartisan bill that he has vetoed claims that have been repudiated by senators hatch grassley roberts and many other republicans let me remind my republican colleagues who i believe want to help children as the gentleman who preceded me sa here is what president bush told the american people three years ago when he was seeking their votes for reelection at the republican national convention and i'm quoting now the president nine states twenty zero for seeking reelection promising what he would do quote in a new term we will lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of children who are eligible but not signed up for government health insurance programs we will not allow a lack of attention or information to stand between these children and the health care they need that is what president bush said in twenty zero four when he was seeking the votes of the american people for reelection yet the president's own proposal that he has made this year would force nearly one million children from low income families who are to spending in chip to be dropped from the present chip program so his proposal not only does not add the millions that he promised to add in twenty four but it drops over eight hundred and thirty thousand job in sharp contrast mr madam speaker through this bipartisan compromise this congress has done exactly what the president said he would do if reelected the american people have heard both sides of this issue and they have disagreed with the president they stand with america's children and so must this congress i urge my republican colleagues and the reason i say origin my republican pollock colleagues because we believe that there are very few if any democrats who will not vote with the children this day look at the facts look into your hearts look beyond partisanship and politics look at the pictures of your loved ones back in your office and ask what if they were the ones today who needed health insurance luckily our children are cover our children are covered but think of the millions of children to whom president bush referred to in twenty zero four that he promised to add to this critical program this i suggest to all of us is a defining moment for the congress of the united states will weigh as the founding fathers contemplated exercise the policy making authority or will we once again crumble complicit in the president's failure to respond to the views of the america public and to our children my friends on both sides of the aisle let us come together let us come together and do the right thing for our children and for our nation let's override the president's unjustified veto of this compromise bipartisan legislation let us ensure that ten million low income children have the health care coverage they need and deserve this will not be a partisan victory if we override this veto it will be a victory for our children and for the president at this time i will go to the distinguished gentleman from texas bisher edwards one minute senator texas is recognized for one minute madam speaker this is a moment of truth for millions of american children and the hardworking families who love them with this vote we can say yes providing health care to ten million children children's health insurance program is pro family and pro work you know there's been a lot said of the last seven years about leaving no child behind what today we can do something about it the choice is clear yes vote means ten million children receive better health care a no vote will leave millions of children behind without adequate health care our children don't need slogans they don't even need good intentions today they need our vote today they deserve our vote out ask each member one question if this folk meant the difference between your child or grandchild having health insurance or not how would you vote how don't know one of my colleagues just a moment ago say that this bill should be easy to reauthorize and should be done in a bipartisan basis and indeed it should but it's not because it's fallen victim to politics it's victim to overreaching and political exploitation this is a program that's supposed to be about uninsured poor children but the president vetoed it because the majority insisted on expanding it to already insured middle class children and adults we can reform this program and keep it where it's supposed to be and then we could move on to real health care reform in his state of the union address this year the president proposed an idea to help every uninsured american a proposal to the end the outrageous discrimination by which those who have employer based insurance get it with pretax dollars but the rest who don't have to pay more we can do better for all americans we can help all insured and when this veto is today sustained today as it should be this program but then let's reforms on health care fire for all the uninsured tell california a better speaker i'd like to recognize distinguished gentleman from pennsylvania for one minute and pending that i'd recognize generally from texas for you this consent request generally tech i thank the distinguished gentleman i proudly rise to vote to override the president's veto to support ten million children's bill that i do understand has expanded dental care and i do understand puts mental parity more no par with physical disability but i most rise today because that number of nearly four million children uninsured is almost too large for me to comprehend that we haven't done something before based upon when my daughter struck with a malignant brain tumor given three to nine months to live at the age of four and you all provided me as a thirty one year military veteran the opportunity for her to live but what i was most struck by was her roommate when she began her chemotherapy a young two and a half year old boy where we listened and could not help in that small room but here social workers come and go for six hours as they try to determine whether that young boy struck with acute leukemia whose parents did not have help share care would have the same opportunity as you gave my daughter that this nation gave them the time for not just quality of life but for life i ask and i rise in support of this bill to give all children what you gave me as a member of the national armed forces of the armed forces thank you germany a fact time gentleman from missouri when i'm speaker i'm pleased to yield two minutes to an individual who is now the ranking member of the health subcommittee who also helped create the children's health second i want to address something that was a set on the floor the last time we considered this issue it was said that failing to cast a yes vote would give new meaning to the phrase suffer the little children however or it's the failure of this legislation to refocus benefits on low income children that gives new meaning to the phrase suffer the little children if as the verse continues it is to these children and i quote that the kingdom of god belongs then why is this children's program failing to serve so many children how is it that in my home state of michigan eighty seven thousand eligible children don't have health care well thirty nine thousand adults are in the program how is it that in minnesota eighty seven percent of the a role e enrollees in this children's program are adults how is it that this low income program is covering families in new jersey making more than seventy thousand dollars a year no wonder new york wanted to go over eighty thousand dollars ladies and gentlemen the answer to these questions is clear the majority does not want a low income children's plan they want what hillary clinton called for in one thousand nine hundred four the first step toward nationalized government run controlled health care we should not be diluting this children's program and we should not be diverting money away from these low income kids i'm proud of offered yesterday to kids first act a bill that will return this program to its roots ensuring low income children covering an additional one point three million american children does not raise taxes and is fully funded this is the kind of legislation we should be debating and stead of continuing the senseless stalemate that uses children as political pawns i urge my colleagues to vote against this veto override and more importantly i urge my colleagues ignored one fact that is important and that is that every time that there is an end and inclusion of anybody over the level of two hundred percent of poverty is on an express waiver great heard by believe in the original intent of this program better figure i believe it is critical to focus on the most important recipients of this program that's the poor children poor kids first and the speaker this debate is not about money it is a bit about freedom it's also critical to remember to focus on what it's necessary to do to cover the poor kids and every opportunity for expansion every opportunity for expansion based on income set asides expanding covering adults expanding covering people in the country without the benefit of a social security number every time we expand the benefit we limit the benefit for the poor and the near poor the initial population that we were supposed to be covering we can't cover those other populations at the expense of people that were required to take care of finding more the truly eligible children is hard work it's hard work but it's the right thing to do you know the time to fix by hard work first it's the right thing to do  the president of the trolls we can spend millions and billions of dollars a wall but that cannot take care of our health care for our children it will be a shame and a disgrace not to take care of border one minute gentleman from new hampshire is recognized for one minute thank you as senator grassley wrote in a letter to the washington post it's fine to have a philosophical debate over the merits of this program but opponents should be intellectually honest about what the bill does and does not do despite this the president and if you support is still clinging to a series of mis distortions in spin to try to mislead the public the president keeps talking about families earning as much as eighty three thousand dollars a year if this were true i would have voted against his program and as for the exception for new jersey the seventy two thousand was requested by republican governor and approved by president bush's administration some of the president's supporters have claimed we didn't provide a way to pay for the bill but we did as americans we want our children be healthy and productive the army did not escape me that while the president was attacking s chip i was sitting in the hearing of the armed services committee of which i am a member the topic was wast fraud in iraq billions of dollars like i said the army did not escape me and it did not escape most americans we must override this veto the time is expired gentleman from texas  recognize myself now and then recognize myself later in the debate because my speakers are here is that acceptable gentlemen coming recognize that ok i want to recognize myself for one minute then gentleness recognizing one that i think the general speaker gentle lady speaker  one of the things that is been talked about in this debate is that the opinion bill before us does not allow illegal aliens to receive benefits and there is a section in the bill section six zero five that says that but it has no in forstmann and in another part of the bill the requirement for citizenship verification is repealed and is the substitution for that is a requirement that a beneficiary or potential beneficiary simply  show a social security number and as we all know there are millions of fraudulent social security numbers floating around so when we actually do get down to negotiating the conference after this lito is sustained i hope that my friends on the majority will work with us in the minority to make sure that illegal aliens do not get benefits and that we have the appropriate enforcement mechanism in the bill that we send to the president with that i would reserve the b was in california madam speaker i'm delighted to recognize a member of the ways and means committee the distinguished lady from the bad in this berkeley for one minute gentleman from nevada is recognized for one minute i thank the gentleman madam speaker coming from a state with one of the highest percentages of uninsured children i know how important it is that we succeed in overriding the president veto today i think it's absolutely shameful that in the united states of america in the twenty first century in a country of such great abundance we have to override a presidential veto to provide essential health care to kids from lower income hardworking american families passage of this bill is essential to ensure continued coverage for the more than thirty thousand kids currently receiving their health care by the chip s chip program in nevada and the bill will also enable nevada to reach out to the nearly seventy thousand children currently eligible who remain uninsured and not in the program because of a lack of funding i urge my colleagues to vote to override this veto it's a shame that he cared he vetoed this bill in the first place and i yield back the balance of my time time has expired the gentleman from missouri before yielding to my friend from texas i you know myself such thomas i may consume to respond to a previous speaker the gentle eighty from new hampshire who said that she would have voted against the original bill had she known or had she believed that in fact a family of four making eighty thousand dollars would qualify their children well in fact i would point the gentle lady to section one fourteen  income disregards and i would say to the distinguished chairman of the energy and commerce committee who pointed out that it was yes it was the administration that granted the waiver there are some on this side who would suggest the administration has approved unwise waivers in the past but even this administration has indicated to a particular governor that before we allow this waiver to occur in the instance of new jersey so many additional enrollees would have to meet the intent of the s chip program to which the governor said i don't have to abide by that and i find that a bit difficult to swallow as we then discuss whether this should be the law of the land i'm now pleased to yield a minute to the distinguished gentleman from texas mr for one minute i thank the gentleman for yielding ten years ago a republican congress created s chip to provide health insurance benefits to children who are uninsured who are americans and whose parents represent the working poor yet today once again this democrat congress will try to do something else and that is give the same benefits to adults to illegal immigrants to those who are already insured into some of the wealthiest among us these are the facts although the program was designed for those up to two hundred percent of poverty we know today there are families of up to eighty two thousand dollars of income receiving these benefits although the program was designed for children we know almost twenty states now serve more adults than children although the program was designed for americans the democrats congress stand up for them ten million children in our country need to have s chip known as kids care in my home state of arizona because it changes their lives for example calling ballinger when he was born his mother sherry did not have health insurance sheri was gainfully employed but she could not her for her company's high insurance premiums and did not qualify for medicaid after call and second birthday and a series of ear infections sherry scraped and borrow enough money for private insurance to cover kallen at the high cost of a hundred and fifty dollars per month at times cheri chose her son's health care over paying the rent and having a full dinner then she discovered the kids care program her premiums then fell by ninety percent per month with the money that sherry shave saved she can even afford her own health insurance now call in is a straight a student he plays high school at c n a got high he leads a natural and healthy life he credits kids care when we sit down we talk to our children we say our prayers my wife and i we thank god for the many blessings he supposed owed upon us some of those blessings that we don't even recognize so much every single day of having health care for our children with their children and parents every day that that is a constant reminder and here we have questions about what is important how many children will be my children's age of three and six they talk about and they pray that god will bless all we talk about across the aisle i am pro choice i am pro life i am pro life not pro choice i am pro life my distinguished colleagues across the aisle talk about being pro life madam speaker we have a health care crisis in our country and the president vetoing the s chip bill has made bad policy based on bad information we've heard it from the floor of this day from the minority the president should know we target low income children for two hundred percent below two hundred percent of poverty the president should know that we focus s chip on children phaseout parents and childless adults that were allowed by this administration to be covered the president should know that the bill covers four million chip but not enrolled the president should know that we don't got cover illegal alien children it's frustrating we have a health care crisis in our country that we can't cover the children when the white house asked congress just recently for a special hundred ninety billion for the war in iraq over and above the hundreds of billions we've already spent why can't we find much less than that for covering ten million low income children parents who are working madam speaker out you'll by itself a minute shall be nice one minute i hope that we can find as we close today and we come to this vote anough people on both sides of the aisle who will vote to override the veto it doesn't make much sense it is there there's no cost this is doyle legal aliens there's no rich people unless the republicans choose to make it possible for them it's a bill that paid for unlike the war which the republicans don't mention what are you going to do for that two or three hundred billion bucks folks that you're spending to kill these kids when they grow up you can't answer that can you look at your shoes look up here you don't know so you don't even want to talk about two hundred or three hundred billion dollars on calling things socialism out of speaker and we're going to talk about if we only had a chance to do this a little better to make sure that illegal aliens were treated a little less fairly than they are now we might vote for it it's too bad it's too bad that they're voting to harm children for a bunch of really petty grievances that they have in the minority and i hope you'll change their minds and vote to override the  know myself one minute down the track and i for one minute with all respect madam speaker i don't need to be lectured to by a member who did not even support the original children's health insurance program the fact is that we reached compromise ten years ago and i recognize that the chairman of the health subcommittee can ram through a bill when you've got the votes as the original bill was done without any input from anybody else but it's my way or the highway and i recognize when you've got the votes that's one way that you can try to enact legislation so my question still stands after this veto is sustained do you want the politics or do you want the policy i hope the latter because i guarantee you we can have a meeting of the minds mr camp and i mr bustani in fact introduced the kids first act that reauthorized this program it's similar to the alternative in the senate are you myself an additional thirty seconds now that would increase state allotments by fourteen billion dollars over the next five years that would allow one million three hundred thousand new low income children to be covered that reimburses states as their medicaid matching rate fully offsets the bill without raising taxes bolsters current provisions to provide premium assistance to kids who have access to private coverage so that we can better coordinate pub look and private programs to prevent the crowding out effect so once this political effort is done i hope we can have a meeting  thank you madam speaker i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks and put them in the record band of speaker what we have today is a classic case of a washington c non intersecting conversation since the president veto this bill several weeks ago my friends on the majority side has spent two weeks  encouraging outside groups and perhaps their political arm and not sure about that to spend millions of dollars in television radio ads bombarding targeted republicans to get him to change their vote now that's only the sixth time in history that we know of that a veto is not been brought to the floor immediately on the president's veto the result is going to be that when we get to the vote in the next hour or so the next thirty minutes or so the president's veto will be sustained and then hopefully we'll have the real bipartisan negotiations that should have started six or seven months  ago it's interesting to me that we're still have misunderstanding about the basic facts and the reason is we've never had a legislative hearing in either the ways and means committee or the energy and commerce committee we've not have a subcommittee markup in either the jurisdictional committees and we really didn't have a markup at full committee because the original bill for s chip was a five hundred page mammoth bill that we got at midnight the day before was supposed to be marked up in the case of the energy and commerce committee but once we do sustain the president's veto here we're we're going to go and have these negotiations i hope and first we're going to talk about the kids both sides are talking about the kids where the facts under current law every child in america who's below one hundred percent of poverty is covered by medicaid both party support that under current law all every child in america who lives in a family between one hundred and two hundred percent of poverty is covered by s chip if they all sign up now there are some children and families that won't sign up in dallas texas am told that thirty three percent only thirty three percent of the eligible s chip children are actually in an ass chip program that's a travesty and we ought to do something together to reach out to those children in those families and make sure that they either have s chip coverage or private insurance that they have something and we can work together on that on a bipartisan basis now once you get above two hundred percent of poverty we have a difference of opinion the original said go to four hundred percent of poverty that bill's dead the bill before us goes to three hundred percent it's a religion of not policy argument if you want to go above and expand the program to how much do you expand it above two hundred percent do you go to three hundred percent you go to two hundred fifty percent the republican alternative is let's cover the lowest income kids first and once we get ninety percent of those kids covered below two hundred percent of poverty let's let states go to two hundred fifty percent that's the the barton deal alternative that we have a discharge petition on but that's a legitimate policy argument now let's talk about illegal aliens current law you're not supposed to cover a child of an illegal alien but they're covered because there's no verification for smith's system in the pending bill they have section six zero five that says no benefits should go to children of illegal aliens but that's always says there's no it forced mechanism there's no enforcement mechanism that's something we can work on in the conference that's something we can work up on together to really put some enforcement to make sure that s chip benefits are for citizens and legal residents we can work on than let's vote to sustain the president's veto and then let's work together to get a program that really is for the kids not for adults and really is for citizens and that we can afford our speakers at time to close we're prepared to close yes i would feel the balance of our time to the ranking member of the ways and means committee my good friend the gentleman from louisiana livia genitally van is recognized for one and a half minutes and i thank the gentleman for yielding i have with me and i'm going to submit this for inclusion in the record a page from a report from the congressional budget office that we received last night this one page puts the law to the assertion that this bill is paid for at least in any terms that a a reasonable person would agree that the bill was actually paid for what this sheath is in two thousand and twelve under the march two thousand and seven baseline c b l estimated three point three million people not just children three point three million people would be covered under the president's proposal in his budget c b l estimated four million people would be covered in two thousand and twelve if the current program with all the exceptions waivers work in ten huge c b s says in two thousand and twelve five point three million children will be covered and c b s say under the bill on the floor today in two thousand and twelve seven point eight million people would be covered but then they say in two thousand and seventeen five years later under the president's budget two point nine million people would be covered under the current program with all the exceptions of waivers five point six and under this bill one point three million people you go down from seven point eight million to one point three million over five years and you're telling me that that's going to take place it's not you know it and you going to have to pay for it to the tune cvo says a forty billion dollars i think this week are telling california about i'm speaker i'd like to recognize the generally from colorado for one minute and pending that recognition i'd just like to point out that under the republicans plan by two thousand and seventeen we probably will have killed twenty thousand soldiers in iraq spending two hundred billion dollars a year that's that's the third time in this  here in the final minutes of the debate on the override of president bush's veto of the children's health insurance bill it appeared that representative barton of texas as asked that the words be taken down pete stark words are relating to his comments on the war in iraq this is a procedure where i house ruled as used to discipline a member for using inappropriate words in the debate what's happening now is that joe barton of texas we think after the words be taken down all the action stops as you can see while the war words are transcribed by the clerk and read back of the chair will then rule on whether those words violated house rules if the ruled out of order the member can't speak again that day without house permission again we're in the last couple of the waning moments of this debate ahead of the vote on the override of president bush's veto of the children's health insurance bill which we expect will be a fifteen minute  again we're in a little bit of a holding pattern here the house is just about wrapped up its debate on the children's health insurance bill the veto by president bush will have that vote on overriding the or sustaining the veto of the president  once this is resolved here the wards were asked to be taken down by joe barton of texas by joe barton of texas citing some words used by pete stark on the house floor and the chair is going to make a ruling on that shortly we expect his words to transcribe by the house clerk read back to the speaker and she should make a ruling shortly tuning in expecting to see a vote on the president's veto the children's health insurance bill well that's coming up we're in the waning moments of that the boat debate when joe barton of texas as asked that wards be taken down  words spoken by pete stark of california at this moment the chair is hearing the words back or reading them back as transcribed by the house clerk she's going to make a ruling on whether those words violated house rules if they're ruled out of order than the member in this case pete stark can speak again today without house permission we are trying to see if we can get at least an audio recording of the of those words of having the last five minutes or so here on the house floor in fact we have those comments ready now let's take a l i'd like to recognize the gentle lady from colorado for one minute and pending that recognition i'd just like to point out that under the republicans plan by two thousand and seventeen we probably generously and there you have it the award spoken by pete stark joe barton of texas objecting asked that the words be taken down and representative stark had mentioned the casualties in the war in iraq several times during this hour or so of debate on the children's health insurance bill so the process now is those words transcribed by the clerk the chair is taking a look at the words listening back if you make a ruling on whether they violate house rules you're watching live house coverage on c span the word i would just like point out that under the republican plan by twenty seventeen we probably will have killed twenty thousand soldiers in iraq meaning two hundred million the words do not  to personality within the meaning of rule seventeen nor do they engage in such inflammatory rhetoric as might otherwise reached a quorum the words are not out of order from california man speak madam speaker i stand with the eighty one percent of americans who support this bipartisan compromise bill that gives health care to ten million poor children in this country it builds upon the strong foundation s chip and covers almost four million additional children you could use whatever word you want to talk about this bill but here's the truth and here are the real facts the bill does not cover for adults the bill does not cover people who are here illegally and it does not cover the wealthy it is fully paid for we in congress should head hang our heads in shame if the wealthiest country in the world refuses to provide basic health care to the children of our land let us rekindle the bipartisan spirit of the past and join together to reauthorize the state children's health insurance program let us put the working families of this country first let us override this veto i yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back our time the terminus in texas thank you ma'am speaker i want to yield our last minute to the distinguished  colleagues i'm disappointed that we've reached this point i think all of us know that the democrats want to renew the s chip program republicans want to renew the s chip program we haven't been afforded the opportunity to sit down to work together to resolve the differences we might have in order to keep this important program alive in available to children in republicans and democrats work together to create the state children's health insurance program we work to ensure that low income children whether out health insurance come first but i think all of us know that's not what's happened today there are five hundred thousand eligible low income children for this program who are not covered yet there are some seven hundred thousand adults around america who are covered under the children's health insurance program i think the numbers of speak for themselves in minnesota eighty seven percent of the people on the children's health insurance program are adults in wisconsin sixty six percent of the people on the children's health insurance program are adults and what what we've been working towards is trying to find a way to say that we ought to insure poor children first i know states have all kinds of ideas about how to expand this program but let's not let this become another washington program that starts with one principle of mine and then become something for everyone why can't we refocus the program to ensure that we help those poor children who do not have health insurance a before we get into insuring adults and and people beyond the low income folks that we're trying to help i think the president vetoed this bill because because frankly i think the majority sent it to him to ensure that it was vetoed there was no conversations in in this house between democrats and republicans on what  bill whatever look like i don't think there was ever any intention that this bill was sent to the white house to be signed into law and at some point that i've made here before and i make it again the american people are tired of all the political games they want us to find some way to work together to resolve our differences and to help move america forward and what we've seen over the last several months on this bill and especially the last two weeks is an example of the political games that the american people are tired of when you begin to look at congress's approval ratings it shouldn't come to any suppose any one surprise in this chamber now that they're very low and why are they low is because i think americans are tired of the rhetoric they're tired of the political games and they want us to find some way to work together to address their needs and their concerns two weeks ago want to present a  differences by now we could have had i'm resolved and we could actually be here today on a new bill that makes sure that the poor children who don't have health insurance actually get it and so what i'd say to all of my colleagues is that i would hope that the political games will come to an end and on behalf of house republicans i again extend this invitation to all of you let's sit down and work together in a bipartisan manner to resolve our differences and secondly let's make sure that we put poor children first now you b office notes several things first of all one this bill actually saves money for the treasury two it is fiscally responsible three it is fully paid for the bill also covers approximately ten million children in two thousand and twelve but it authorizes that only through what he dwelt in my republican colleagues comparison with the birds in the year twenty seven gene those progressions are both impossible and bogus i would note that the legislation covers formated more chairman father i was the author of legislation for access to health care for all americans he continues that tradition he was in the chair the day and gavel the vote on medicare so thank you for the your years of experience and leadership and again your leadership on this important issue of of ensuring our children and this isn't about an issue this is about a value thank you mr stark thanks mr polonca for their leadership and the distinguished chair of the ways and means committee mr wrangle for his important and relentless leadership on this issue my colleagues as i listen to the debate today i hear a lot of sub to fusion distractions but the fact is that this is a discussion about america's children and it is a discussion about america there is no industrialized country in the world that anyone respects that does not provide health insurance for its children we are the exception not a designation to be proud of but the american people in their wisdom have this not as an issue but as a value as an ethic and that is why i am so proud of what has transpired since we took our first vote on this bill that day i said we could of stablish ourselves as the children's congress and we did the work for him and work remains to be done to bring that to fruition but in the meantime across our country democrats and republicans governors and mayors people who work with children or have the responsibility of of delivering  everything in between the american medical association catholic hospital association family us that every organization you can name is supporting this legislation i'm so proud because this week earlier this week easter seals representatives covered the hill with hundreds of advocates visiting members offices we were pleased to hear from the president of easter seal president james williams who said without health care coverage our early intervention and other programs for children cannot be successful and that's why easter seals the easter seals organization was here he was very eloquent in his advocacy but no more eloquent than the young than who were here to tell us their stories today the representatives of mar four hundred of them are visiting offices on capitol hill and they have said dr jennifer house president of the march of dimes has stated that s chip is the health insurance insurance lifeline for millions of low income children who have no other way to obtain coverage our country has put poor children first that's called medicaid and the poorest of the poor children in our country are able to receive health care through medicaid i wish you could have heard the stories of some of the parents who told us bethany's parents who were in the other day press asked them if they were afraid if their family would come under attack because they were lobbying for s chip i said we all are really under attack but we're proud to come forth to support this initiative we're not proud of the fact that we are low income they said we're trying very hard to to lift ourselves up higher into the middle class we work very hard not to be on medicaid but to be among the working poor it's not something we brag about but s chip is something that we need so when the president wants to have four or five million children instead of ten million children in th is he the one the decider who wants to go to that family and say your child is out bethany had heart problems from birth she's two years she was two years old in july she's been told by some people you know march of dimes proudly wearing their pin they deal with children with birth defects and many it might interest you to know that one in eight children  america each year was born prematurely around half a million babies prematurely many of those children i'm not saying all but many of those children have ongoing conditions that do not allowed a precondition that bars them from getting any health insurance those children need s chip they are in the category that makes them eligible and that category does not include people earning eighty three thousand dollars a year so while some of you may use that as an excuse not to vote for the program i hope you know intellectually that it is not a reason to vote against this initiative there are currently no children enrolled in s chip with family income of four hundred percent of the federal poverty level eighty three thousand dollars for a family of four in fact ninety one point three percent of the children roldan s chip are in families of fo that make less than two hundred percent of poverty and ninety nine point nine five percent just a hair under one hundred percent of them are in families under three hundred percent of poverty so this is a sad thing is we're asking people who are working hard art they're playing by the rules they're they're taking care of their families they could have stayed out of work and stayed on medicaid but that's not what we're encouraging people to do in our country we're encouraging them to move on an upward and these families hoppa come forward and say why they have not acquired attained the american dream of enough wealth to afford twelve hundred dollars a month in health insurance premiums and that's a big order  so please those that with the work that they have john easter seals red cross and all the organizations i mentioned earlier and the governors and mayors etc that noun eighty two percent of the american people support this initiative if i said it before i want to say it again and let me also say that there are some myths about s this i don't really think they're myths i think they're excuses not to vote for the bill i mentioned one of them another one is about illegal aliens clearly the bill states no federal funding for illegal aliens it says it but it is also the law of the land illegal aliens do not get benefit so don't use that as an excuse to deprive ten million children in our country who are eligible for enrollment in s chip but they shouldn't get it this has been a bi partisan effort and some of given what has been said about this is simply not true but don't take it from me senator orrin hatch for chair of the health committee in the senate now the ranking member said i believe that some have given the president bad advice on this matter because i believe that supporting this bipartisan compromise to provide health coverage to low income children is the morally right thing to do if we were truly compassionate it seems to me we didn't divorce this program senator orrin hatch republican of utah senator charles grassley the former chair of the finance committee another committee of jurisdiction now the ranking member said the president's claims about s chip are flatly in correct the s chip bill is not a government takeover of health care screaming socialized medicine during a health care debate is like shouting fire in a crowded theater it is intended to cause is steria that diverts people from looking at the facts and of quote senator gra republican of iowa and so my colleagues we have a decision today to override the president's veto which would be in my view the right thing to do for our children and for our country it's not about compassion it's about fairness it's about herman's and this is a bill again the has been bipartisan in its development and required enormous sacrifice from the democrats in the house of representatives we had a much higher goal this is what is achievable for the children it should have been signed by the president there is no reason that he has given that is consistent with the facts and so  colleagues to think about the children to think about bethany and think about a little boy derek who is in my office this morning who is the ambassador of the march of dimes for two thousand and seventy eight years old born prematurely  pound and a half and now going out there and speaking on behalf of the needs of other children president is isolated in that don't join him in his isolation come forward on behalf of the children and let's truly sunda signal that we are about the future i tried to do that when i was foreign and by being surrounded by children it was a spontaneous moment but it was one that was clear in its message we are gaveling this house to order on behalf of the children there is nothing more important than we have to do in our work then make sure that our children are healthy and so today we have an opportunity to do that let's not miss that opportunity let's give a vote for the children against the president so technically this vote is on passing the bill over the president's veto the bill was originally passed september twenty fifth to sixty five one thousand president bush vetoed it earlier this month we are opening up our phone lines to get your thoughts on the children's health insurance bill the politics of the debate the merits of the bill on your screen you see the numbers two zero two five eight five thirty eight eighty five for republicans democrats can call two zero two five eight five thirty eight eighty six and a pen it's all others two zero two five eight five thirty eight eighty seven if you have called any c span program in the last thirty days give others a chance to call this afternoon and we will get to your phone calls momentarily but first we want to give you an overall view of today's debate my conversation we had earlier during the first vote this morning with julie rovner of national public radio and we say good morning to julie rovner of national public radio she covers health policy for that network a p reports this