by Rep Louise Slaughter
Thu Oct 25, 2007 at 10:49:12 AM PDT
VideoMy full remarks are below:
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Make no mistake, 43 Governors from states red and blue, 69 members of the United States Senate, Democrats and Republicans, 273 of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in the House, and 81% of the American public, including a large majority of Republicans, support our bi-partisan expansion of SCHIP.
Yet, presented with this overwhelming support from all sides, the President decided to dust off his veto pen, and with it deny millions of children access to health care.
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M. Speaker, the President chastises the $35 billion bill – which is fully paid for – as "too expensive." And with the same breath, he seeks an additional $190 billion for the Iraq War – all of which is at the expense of the taxpayer.
This is simply unconscionable when you realize that the amount of money it takes to provide health coverage to 10 million children for an entire year is what we spend in Iraq in just 41 days.
We must get our priorities straight.
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