Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement today in response to the inclusion of a partisan Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) reauthorization bill in the Continuing Resolution (CR) to be considered next week:
“Congressional Republicans are risking the health care of nearly 9 million children in order to once again ram through a divisive CHIP bill that has no chance of being passed by the Senate. Failure on CHIP in November wasn’t enough for House Republicans. They are now doubling down, wanting to pass the same failed bill again that sabotages the Affordable Care Act.
“This action is troubling because we’ve been negotiating for weeks in an attempt to come to an agreement on a bill that could become law immediately. Rather than taking these negotiations seriously, House Republicans have slow-walked the discussions on CHIP and other legislation in order to prioritize their tax scam that benefits large corporations and the wealthiest few. These actions show that passing tax cuts for the wealthy is more important to them than children’s health care.
“Democrats stand ready to help pass a bipartisan, bicameral bill that extends CHIP and community health centers. If House Republicans were serious about providing health care to 9 million children, they would not bring this partisan bill to the House floor again and would stop paying lip service at the negotiating table in order to finally come to a bipartisan solution."
