| January 18, 2008 | For More Information Contact: Ed Shelleby (202) 662-3611 |
WASHINGTON, DC – Children’s Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman today issued the following statement in advance of next week’s vote in the House of Representatives to override the President’s second veto of legislation to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP):
“Once again, Congress has the opportunity to stand with the more than nine million uninsured children in America and override President Bush’s veto of a SCHIP bill that would extend critical health coverage to more than 3 million of the more than 9 million uninsured children in this country,” said Edelman. “A vote in support of the President’s action to deny health coverage to these children would be morally indefensible. Every 41 seconds, another child is born uninsured, and each day that Congress delays action, another 2,100 children are born without health coverage. Over the past two years alone, the number of uninsured children in America has increased by more than one million. It is time to stop playing politics and do what is right for our nation’s children. I urge every Member of Congress to reach down into their hearts, think about the children and families in their districts and around the country who are counting on them, and cast their vote to override this immoral veto.”
For more information on CDF’s campaign to provide health coverage to all children in America, please visit: www.childrensdefense.org/healthychild