| Washington, D.C.—Yesterday, Congressman Steve King voted in favor of an 18 month extension of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), known as Hawk-i in Iowa. Approval of the SCHIP extension in the House of Representatives marks a defeat for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and liberals throughout the country and also marks an end to Pelosi’s effort to use SCHIP as a political weapon.
"Today is a victory for responsible government. By extending the current SCHIP program through March of 2009, we can ensure the clamor of presidential politics doesn’t adversely affect the long term decisions we make for children’s health insurance," said King.
Since July of 2007, when the debate over rewriting the federal children’s health insurance law started, King has advocated for an 18-month extension of the law. Congressman King helped write the Iowa state law that created the HAWK-i.
"Speaker Pelosi tried to use SCHIP to push her San Francisco values on the rest of the country. Pelosi tried to make it easier for illegal aliens to get SCHIP and Medicaid benefits, increase the cigarette tax to more than $1 a pack, push more than 2.1 million children off of private health insurance onto government rolls, and force taxpayers to pay for the health insurance of well-off families. And of course, Pelosi was determined to use SCHIP to lay the cornerstone of socialized medicine. The SCHIP extension that I’ve supported and that passed Congress yesterday will ensure taxpayers get a better deal and will ensure current SCHIP beneficiaries continue to receive benefits. I am happy that I finally had the opportunity to support a reasonable SCHIP extension," King concluded.
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