Today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus announced that he has reached a bipartisan agreement about the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which is scheduled to be marked up by the Committee on Tuesday, July 17. The following is the statement of Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, about Chairman Baucus’s announcement:
"Today's announcement is noteworthy because it retains the SCHIP program's tradition of bipartisanship—a tradition that dates back to the program's inception in 1997.
"Covering America's uninsured children enjoys broad support throughout the United States, and, contrary to the Bush Administration's recent rhetoric, the SCHIP program's extension should not become a political football.
"We congratulate Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley for retaining bipartisanship about children's health coverage.
"Since the details of the announced agreement are not yet public, we are unable at this moment to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed agreement.
"The proposal appears to provide only $35 billion in new SCHIP funding over the next five years, an amount well short of the Budget Resolution's $50 billion—the amount needed to cover all uninsured children currently eligible for SCHIP. We intend to work with members of Congress to improve this funding.
"If, as reported, the new SCHIP funds are paid for with increases in the tobacco tax, this will be a win-win for children’s health: It will reduce smoking and increase children's health coverage."
