Press Releases

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett Applauds Extension of the SCHIP Program

Washington, Dec 19, 2007 -

Congressman Roscoe Bartlett applauded the agreement that has been reached to preserve and fund the SCHIP health insurance program for children of working poor families. Overwhelming bipartisan approval of the plan is anticipated and the President is expected to sign it into law. A vote by the House is expected later today.

“Approval by Congress to extend and fund the SCHIP program is a great Christmas present,” said Congressman Roscoe Bartlett. “I’m very pleased that Congressional leaders finally agreed to this approach that I’ve been supporting all along.”

The legislation, S. 2499, extends the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that provides health insurance for children of working poor families for 18-months through through March 31, 2009. This allows time for a comprehensive review of the program and ensures it won’t become a campaign issue during 2008. The bill also provides sufficient additional funding for Maryland and other states that would otherwise exhaust their SCHIP funding. 136,034 children were enrolled in SCHIP in Maryland during FY 2006. According to a November, 14, 2007 Congressional Research Service report, 21 states including Maryland, were projected to face SCHIP shortfalls in the absence of additional funding for Fiscal Year 2008. http://www.congress.gov/erp/rl/pdf/RL30473.pdf

“It’s unfortunate that Democratic Congressional leaders followed the agenda of some liberal advocacy groups and kept children and their families worried and waiting so long before coming around to this common sense extension,” said Congressman Bartlett. “They finally recognized that most Americans reject government-controlled health care and oppose their proposal to use SCHIP to provide taxpayer-paid health insurance to children in middle and upper-income families who already have private health insurance.”