Pelosi Statement on Republican CHIP Reauthorization Vote

Contact: Ashley Etienne/Henry Connelly, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after House Republicans forced through the House a partisan bill that reauthorizes the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Community Health Centers and other public health initiatives, and pays for it by slashing the Prevention and Public Health Fund, sabotaging the Affordable Care Act and raising Medicare premiums:

"Congress has no more sacred duty than protecting the health of our children, but the sole purpose of this partisan, radical CHIP reauthorization bill is to rip a massive hole in the health care safety net. Breaking with a years-long tradition of bipartisanship, Republicans have posed a cruel, cynical and fundamentally false choice, forcing Congress to steal the health care of some in order to provide care for others.

"Under the Republican bill, many Americans would be made to suffer. Ironically, this extreme reauthorization pays for CHIP by cutting other initiatives vital to children's health – slashing the Prevention Fund that ensures children and young people have access to immunizations and vaccines, lead poisoning prevention programs, opioid prevention and response, and youth suicide prevention. The bill would also result in nearly 700,000 hard-working Americans losing their health coverage and destroy Medicare as a universal program and hike Medicare premiums. Finally, it threatens the recovery of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands by withholding vital funding for the hurricane-ravaged islands' health care needs.

"The American people deserve real, bipartisan action to provide for the health care of our children, not cynical efforts to undermine the health of our nation. Democrats will continue to fight to ensure quality, affordable care for all, and will stand strong against the constant Republican sabotage of Americans' health care."

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