WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives this morning voted 260 to 152 to override President Bush’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program reauthorization bill, falling 30 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed. Representative Xavier Becerra (CA-31), Assistant to the Speaker of the House and the only member from Southern California on the Ways and Means Committee, voted to override the president’s veto.
“As many American families wade through this current tide of economic uncertainty, it is disappointing to see a majority of Republicans once again preventing 10 million children from receiving health insurance,” Rep. Becerra said following today’s vote. “When unemployment increases – and unfortunately, unemployment is increasing – so do the number of Americans without health insurance. In this weak economy, more and more American parents are having difficulty finding affordable health insurance for their children making the SCHIP program more critical than ever."
SCHIP provides health coverage to American children whose parents do not qualify for Medicaid, but cannot afford private insurance. This past September the House voted overwhelmingly to pass bipartisan legislation that reauthorized SCHIP for five years and covered 10 million children.
“Every extra dollar a family spends on an emergency room visit for their child is a dollar that could have been used to pay the mortgage, or buy groceries and other consumer goods that stimulate the economy,” Rep. Becerra said. “To deny health care to the children of hardworking American families is the absolute wrong policy during hard times.”
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Click here to view Rep. Becerra’s December 12, 2007 floor speech in support of reauthorizing SCHIP following the president’s second veto of the legislation. |