WASHINGTON, DC – Wednesday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) expressed disappointment at the President’s second veto of legislation to renew and improve the Children’s Health Insurance Program.  This legislation would provide health care coverage for nearly 10 million children nationwide.  Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) reauthorizes $35 billion for the program which provides health insurance to children from low-income, working families.  The funds will not only ensure coverage for the 6.6 million kids on CHIP today, it will expand coverage to another 3.3 million kids across the country, including nearly 35,000 in Washington state. 

 

“It’s unacceptable that people who are working hard and trying to make ends meet are unable to keep their families healthy,” said Cantwell. “The president has vetoed this legislation twice, despite overwhelming bipartisan support for it from Congress. The president needs to stop playing politics with our children's health and well-being. His veto today means that too many children will go without health care in the New Year. Congress keeps trying to help children and the president keeps standing in the way.”

Congress first passed a comprehensive reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program in August.  After the President’s veto of that legislation, a new version was drafted to strengthen the program’s focus on low-income children.  Despite these changes, the President opted to veto again, further demonstrating the White House’s refusal to make substantive progress in covering the uninsured.  Both bills passed with bipartisan majorities in the Senate. 

Cantwell has worked for years to cover more uninsured children in the state by correcting a flaw in the original program that has prevented most of its federal CHIP dollars from being spent.  Washington has been forced to hand back almost $200 million since the program’s creation in 1997—all of it money the state could have used to cover uninsured children.  Both bills included a provision to fix this inequity and give the state more resources in improving children’s health care.