THE CHAMP ACT:
PROVIDING HEALTHCARE FOR CHILDREN AND SENIORS

The richest nation on earth should guarantee quality health care for all of its people – especially its children and seniors.

In August, the House took a significant and important step toward this goal. It passed the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act, a bill I authored with Representatives Charlie Rangel, John Dingell and Frank Pallone.

This important legislation extends the popular and successful Children’s Health Insurance Program (known as Healthy Families in California) to provide health care to 11 million kids. Five million of these children currently lack health insurance. The other six million kids receive care through CHIP, but are at risk of losing their coverage when the program expires at the end of September.

CHAMP also improves Medicare for seniors and people with disabilities. The bill:

• Ensures Medicare beneficiaries’ access to the doctors of their choice by stopping scheduled cuts to physician reimbursement rates.
  
  
• Eliminates all co-payments and deductibles for preventive services.
  
  
• Reduces Medicare’s co-payment for outpatient mental health services.
  
  
• Enables more low-income seniors and people with disabilities to take advantage of programs that help them pay for Medicare’s drug costs, co-payments, and deductibles.
  
  
• Allows beneficiaries adversely affected by private prescription drug plans’ midyear formulary changes to change plans and access the drugs they need.

Second, CHAMP protects Medicare from privatization by equalizing payments between private plans and fee-for-service Medicare. All government and private experts agree that private plans are massively overpaid and receive, on average, 12 percent more than the cost of care in traditional Medicare.

These overpayments are not an accident. Instead, they’re part of Congressional Republicans’ efforts to privatize all or parts of Medicare. Overpayments increase private plans’ profits, encouraging insurance firms to sign up additional seniors. The more beneficiaries that enroll, the easier it would be for conservatives to turn Medicare into a voucher and eliminate the program’s guaranteed benefit. This would result in higher costs, fewer benefits, and less health care for seniors and people with disabilities.

The Senate passed its own health care legislation. That bill extends the CHIP program for fewer kids than the CHAMP bill – and is funded by increasing the federal tobacco tax by 61 cents. Unfortunately, the Senate bill did not include CHAMP’s essential Medicare improvements.

In the coming weeks, I will work with my colleagues in the Senate to reconcile our differences and pass a single bill that will improve health care for our children and seniors.

It’s that time of year – summer vacations are over and parents and children are stocking up on school supplies.

A strong public education system is key for all children to achieve economic and social equality.

Because children begin learning as soon as they are born, it makes no sense for society to wait until children enter kindergarten to care about their education. Instead, we should provide all kids with access to quality childcare, early childhood education, and universal pre-kindergarten programs.

Enabling low-income families to benefit from a refundable federal tax credit for childcare is an important step toward this goal. So is subsidizing additional care for families living in or near poverty.

Once kids begin K-12 schooling, it is incumbent upon the richest nation on Earth to provide them with the best public education money can buy. Created five years ago, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was supposed to include tens of billions of additional dollars for schools and teachers to enable them to meet high standards. Unfortunately, the Administration underfunded the Act by well over $50 billion, compromising its effectiveness.

The new Congress has already held a dozen hearings about how to improve NCLB by increasing state and local flexibility in meeting the bill’s standards. We’ve also increased the Act’s funding by more than $2 billion. I will continue to demand that Congress devote the resources necessary to ensure that all students get the quality education they deserve.

After high school, every student deserves the opportunity to attend college. I voted for, and the House recently passed, the “College Cost Reduction Act,” which would make college more affordable for many students. If enacted, this important legislation will provide the largest single investment in higher education since the Montgomery GI bill of 1944. It will increase the Pell Grant for all students by $500, make more than 500,000 new students eligible for a Pell Grant, and cut the interest rate on student loans in half

A strong education system is indicative of – and imperative for – a strong and vibrant country. I will continue to work to make sure that our public schools achieve excellence and our children have the chance to reach their fullest potential.

I support the immediate withdrawal of all American troops. Not next year. Not next month. Today.

I oppose additional funding for the war because the situation in Iraq isn't getting better, it's getting worse. Since President Bush announced his intent to escalate the war and deploy an additional 20,000 American troops, 600 have been killed and more than 3,000 have been wounded.

In total, the war has taken the lives of more than 3,700 American servicemen and women and injured more than 27,000. Countless innocent Iraqis have been killed or maimed.

The loss of life is tragic and must stop.

Link to my recent statement on the floor of the House:

http://www.house.gov/stark/news/110th/floorstatements/20070712_iraq.htm

Government at every level can and must take action to reduce carbon emissions and avert the threat of global warming. In addition to the government’s response, each of us can make significant changes at home to stop global warming. Here are some simple things you can do:

1. Change a light: Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
   
   
2. Check your tires: Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage by more than three percent. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
   
   
3. Use less hot water: It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead and washing your clothes in cold or warm water.
   
   
4. Adjust your thermostat: Moving your thermostat just 2 degrees down in winter and 2 degrees up in summer could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
   
   
5. Plant a tree: A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.
   
   
6. Turn off electronic devices: Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you’re not using them will save thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.