It’s been 72 days since funding expired for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the way things are looking, it’s going to be several weeks more.
Congress is unlikely to pass a multi-year funding solution for the Children's Health Insurance Program until January, according to House GOP leadership sources. But it will continue to pass temporary measures to make sure states get the funding they need until then. […]
Federal CHIP funding expired at the end of September. While there's a lot of bipartisan agreement on the general idea of funding CHIP, finding sources of revenue that can get across the finish line — and then actually passing it — just isn't Congress's top priority right now.
What this means for the states trying to plan for next year is just more uncertainty. It's hard for them to budget for a whole year when they've got no idea exactly when the funding is going to come, how much it will be, or whether they're going to have to have this fight every year now. All this over a relatively measly $14 billion a year, when right now they're talking about passing a $1.5 TRILLION tax cut.
Hey Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, are you happy now that the program you love so much, that you created all by your lonesome (maybe with a little bit of help from Sen. Ted Kennedy at the end) is being used as a pawn for the first time in its existence? Happy that your playing the "we don't have money" for it anymore game has ended here?
This program, a lifeline for 9 million families, will never be the same again. It's a hostage now, and Hatch let that happen.
Jam the phone lines of House and Senate Republicans. Call (202) 224-3121, and tell them to stop holding kids hostage and to pass a clean funding bill for CHIP and community health centers.