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Catholic Charities USA Criticizes Veto of Children's Health Insurance Bill - Bush Veto of Bipartisan SCHIP Bill Imperils Health of Nation's Children

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 October 2007, 12:00 CDT

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, issued the following statement today in reaction to President Bush's veto of a compromise bill passed by Congress with strong bipartisan support to strengthen and improve the State Children's Health Insurance Program, (SCHIP) a highly successful program that provides health insurance coverage to poor children.

"It is dismaying that President Bush has followed through on his threat to use one of his extremely rare vetoes on a bill that would have helped so many children without health insurance.

"Because of President Bush's veto, thousands of poor children living in every state will not receive health insurance coverage that would otherwise have been provided to them under this legislation. This veto puts the health of many of our nation's children at risk.

"This veto is the wrong decision at the wrong time. Census figures released only a few weeks ago showed that the number of children in America without health insurance is going up -- reaching 8.7 million in 2006 -- and this legislation would have taken an important step in reducing that number by extending health insurance coverage to several million more poor children. "SCHIP has had a 10-year record of success in making a difference in the lives of children in need of affordable health care, and this compromise SCHIP expansion legislation had broad bipartisan support.

"Catholic Charities USA thanks those Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate who supported the legislation and voted to provide health insurance for more children in need. Those who opposed this sensible and important legislation will be held accountable for their actions.

"When Catholic Charities launched its Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America earlier this year with the goal of cutting the poverty rate in half by 2020, we understood that the journey would be long and difficult. Passage of the children's health insurance bill would have been an important milestone to show that Congress and the White House were finally giving priority to the needs of those living in poverty. Instead, today's disappointing veto shows that we must redouble our efforts to help the poorest and most vulnerable in our society."

Editor's Note: An audio replay is now available of Catholic Charities USA's Oct. 2 briefing discussing the impact of the president's veto of SCHIP would have on reducing poverty in America.

To hear first hand from Catholic Charities agencies and SCHIP parents just how vital this program is to low-income families, listen to the 20-minute briefing by calling (800) 475-6701 and enter access code 889528.

Participants on the call included:

-- Candy Hill, senior vice president for social policy for Catholic Charities USA;

-- Shelia Haennicke, assistant communications director for Catholic Charities of Chicago;

-- Hebron Morris of Chicago, a working father of two whose children are receiving SCHIP; and

-- Joyce Campbell, director of community and government relations for Catholic Charities of Trenton, New Jersey.

"It is clearly not just or humane to reduce a program that provides health insurance to children, the number of whom is growing," said Campbell on the call. "It is unreasonable to think that at a time when we know housing costs are going up and many working poor families are housing burdened, that there would be an expectation that they could afford to pay for health insurance. The president's [veto of] SCHIP would leave an additional 28,000 children in NJ without health care. The pieces just don't fit together. And that's what those living day to day, paycheck to paycheck tell us at Catholic Charities."

Catholic Charities USA's members -- more than 1,700 local agencies and institutions nationwide -- provide help and create hope for nearly seven million people a year regardless of religious, social, or economic background. For more than 280 years, local Catholic Charities agencies have been providing a myriad of vital services in their communities, ranging from day care and counseling to food and housing. For more information, visit http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/.

Catholic Charities USA

CONTACT: Shelley Borysiewicz, Manager of Media Relations of CatholicCharities USA, +1-703-236-6218

Web site: http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/

Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire

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