Washington, DC – January 14, 2009 – U.S. Representative Mike Doyle today voted for legislation to reauthorize and expand a federal-state program that provides health insurance coverage to children who are currently uninsured.  The House passed the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2009 by a vote of 289 to139.

“It’s a disgrace that in the richest country in the world, millions of vulnerable children don’t have health insurance,” Congressman Doyle said today.  “The people who opposed this legislation today and in the previous Congress should be ashamed of themselves.  I’m pleased to see that the House passed this legislation today by such a large bipartisan margin.”

The SCHIP was created by Congress in 1997 to provide health care coverage for children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance.  Over the past decade, SCHIP has proved to be a successful and cost-effective program for providing health care to millions of uninsured children.

The authorization for the program expired last year.  Congress passed legislation reauthorizing the SCHIP program and expanding it to cover 5 million more children, but it was vetoed by President Bush and Congress was unable to override his veto.  This legislation is essentially similar to the bill approved by Congress last year.  The Senate is expected to act on it soon.

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