This week is the first annual National CPR/AED Awareness Week. The purpose of National CPR/AED Awareness Week is to spotlight how lives can be saved if more Americans know CPR and how to use an AED. During this week, American Heart Association, American Red Cross, and National Safety Council chapters across the U.S. will conduct CPR/AED demonstrations and instructional classes, host events, and provide educational information on the importance of CPR and AED training.

When I was in the State Senate, I fought to put at least one AED in every school.  Because of sponsoring this in the New York Senate and it being signed into law over 35 lives have been saved in New York State over the last five years.

In 2007, I took this fight to the House of Representative and worked closely with the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, and the National Safety Council, to introduce legislation, unanimously passed in December, making the first week in June National CPR and AED Awareness Week.   Sudden cardiac arrest can strike at any time so you never know when you might be someone’s only chance for survival.  It is important that calling 911, performing CPR, and using an automated external defibrillator (AED) be an instinctive response.  Unfortunately, for most Americans, that reaction is not second nature.

As policymakers, we must continue to implement and support programs that make AEDs more accessible and improve our monitoring of sudden cardiac arrest.  As individuals, we must become trained in performing CPR and using an AED, and encourage our staff to do so as well.  One way to get trained online to is visit this site and complete an online program.  

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Today I maintained my support for the original purpose of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program – to provide health insurance to low-income children. The effort made to override this veto is needless political maneuvering and achieves nothing more than continued gridlock in Congress. In December, Congress, in bi-partisan effort, passed a bill extending SCHIP for 18 months and increased funding and resources to cover current enrollment levels without raising taxes.

This veto override vote is especially disheartening in light of last week’s attempt by both parties to work together on a plan for America’s faltering economy. I was optimistic that we could work together to fix our nation’s problems during the remaining months of the 110th Congress. However, by choosing to delay this vote from mid-December to just days before the State of the Union Address, it is the majority who has once again shown their vested interest in political pandering at the cost of America’s children.

SCHIP is a pivotal program and I am pleased that we extended the program for 18 months. There are still half a million children eligible for the SCHIP program, but not enrolled. Before we begin expanding this program to cover adults, illegal immigrants, wealthier families, and kids who already have private insurance, we must ensure that the 500,000 children who go to bed tonight without healthcare get the priority status that they deserve. No parent should have to wonder what will happen to the son or daughter if they become ill. By continuing to push for a flawed bill, the majority refuses to serve the children that the program is intended for and continue to jeopardize the health of our most vulnerable citizens.

Those who call for me to support the veto override continue to turn a blind eye to the realities of bloated and bureaucratic programs. We must create a program that actually provides underprivileged children with healthcare, and does not put them in line behind adults, wealthy children, and illegal immigrants. If those who want this bloated program feel so compelled to aid these groups, they should offer separate bills on the floor of the House of Representatives for a yes or no vote. The reality is that no member of congress would ever offer such a bill, not because they are afraid, but because they know that it is not the will of the American people to cover these individuals. Congress needs to be focusing on protecting our borders, stimulating our economy, and serving America’s children, not rehashing last year’s fights.

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Yesterday was the last day of the 1st session of the 110th Congress. As I have mentioned on this blog previously, this Congress has been coined the “Do Nothing Congress,” or a “Post Office Congress.” The Democratic leadership has accomplished little to nothing until the last two days of this session. The American public have voiced their disdain with the progress of Congress and the Democrats overreaching, over-politicizing and their misguided policy initiatives.

As many of you know yesterday I voted for a SCHIP reauthorization that extends this vital program from 18 months. I was an original cosponsor of Representative Barton’s SCHIP Bill in September and sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi discussing how important an 18-month reauthorization is to American children. I am pleased that Congress was able to work together and reauthorize this pivotal program  This reauthorization does the one thing that the other previously defeated SCHIP bills don’t - it puts low-income children first. To date, the Democratic leadership has refused to require states to cover low income children first before expanding eligibility to above average income families. This bill also increases funding to cover current enrollment levels and provides additional resources to states to avoid potential problems without raising taxes.

Congress also passed a clean AMT patch yesterday. The plan that was passed by the House was the same plan Rep. McCrery (R-LA) and I have been pushing for months. The only difference is: Had Congress adopted it back then, millions of taxpayers would be in a lot better spot than they are today. Because of the delay millions of people who pay their taxes early will be forced to deal with a delay in receiving their returns. I’m glad to support a bill ensuring that 23 million middle-class Americans will avoid paying a tax for which they were never intended to be targeted

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The Democrat Majority: By the Numbers 

0 - Fiscal year 2008 spending bills signed into law  

$3.04 - Per gallon of gas and no energy bill to lower gas prices 

20 - Years since the last time it took this long to confirm an attorney general 

20 - Years since the last time not a single spending bill was sent to the president by this late date 

33 - States with operating budgets lower than the $9 billion in overspending contained in the Labor-HHS-Ed appropriations bill 

39 - Days into the 2008 fiscal year with no spending bills signed into law 

46 - Bills signed into law naming post offices and other federal properties 

52 -  Days since the nation had an attorney general 

53 -  Days until expiration of the research and development tax credit   53 - Days until 2008, and still no Alternative Minimum Tax patch 

57 - Political Iraq votes held in the House and Senate 

66 - Percent of foreign intelligence missed when court orders were required for surveillance, according to DNI Mike McConnell 

276 - Days since the president requested funding for troops, and still no action  312 - Days since the Alternative Minimum Tax “patch” expired 

$93.53 - Per gallon of crude oil, and no energy bill to lower gas prices 

$100,000 - Funding for Los Angeles Fashion District in House Transportation-HUD appropriations bill  $300,000 - Funding for San Francisco Exploratorium museum in Labor-HHS-Ed appropriations conference report 

$2 million - Funding cut from Department of Labor union boss watchdog office   

22 million - New smokers needed to pay for Democrat SCHIP plan 

$3 billion - Border security funding pulled from defense spending bill by Democrats  

$22 billion - Additional spending proposed by Democrats over the president’s budget request 

$220 billion - Additional spending over 10 years proposed by Democrats   $916 billion - Additional taxes proposed in the Democrats’ budget over 10 years 

$1.3 trillion - Additional taxes proposed by Democrats in AMT legislation over 10 years

To read more about the “Do Nothing” Congress read: Record Setting Congress

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Below is a blog positing from Health And Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. He says that “Express Lane” Provision In SCHIP Bill “Creates Massive Financial Incentives For States” To Put Ineligible People In State Children’s Health Insurance Program 

By Secretary Mike LeavittHHS Secretary’s Blog  http://secretarysblog.hhs.gov/  

Congress’ SCHIP “bill has a basic strategy: Flood the program with money and then build into the language of the bill methods of blowing the doors open for eligibility.  In short, use the language of poor children to fill the money bucket up. Then, when taxpayers have committed money, we can expand the population of those who get the benefit to include adults, aliens, and higher income people who have private insurance now.  

“There are several glaring examples of how this bill was designed to do exactly that. One method used is hidden under the phrase, ‘express lane’ enrollment. This allows states to delegate deciding if people are eligible for SCHIP to others, like schools. It then provides that if the school decides they are eligible for subsidized school lunch they can get Medicaid and SCHIP.  

“Here’s the really clever part of this camouflage. Schools don’t have any way to enforce eligibility by income or citizenship for subsidized school lunch, let alone SCHIP. If there is any question, they put children into the program. Talk to anybody knowledgeable about school lunch programs and they will tell you, significant numbers of children are deemed eligible for these programs that aren’t.  

“The school doesn’t even have to have the signature of the family, nor does the family really have to verify income or citizenship status or other important information such as whether the family already has health insurance.  “What’s the penalty if a state lets lots of people who aren’t eligible into the program? Virtually none; again, let me explain how the bill would work.  

“Assume the federal government wanted to check up on a state to assure they are keeping the rules. It is not possible to check every file, so the logical thing would be to pull a scientifically drawn sample of all their enrollees, survey those cases for compliance, drawing conclusions based on the survey for the entire program. If say, a thousand cases are checked, statistically you can predict the compliance of the entire group.  

“Let’s say, the sample found 200 of the 1000 were falsely allowed in the program, or 20% of the entire program. The law would simply allow the federal government to ask for its money back on the 200 specific cases. But the bill actually prohibits the federal government to make the states accountable for the tens of thousands of cases the sample represents.  

“In other words, the bill not only makes it easy for ineligible people to get in the program; it also takes away any meaningful penalties for states that put them there. In fact, it creates massive financial incentives for states to do so.  “We are all for signing up kids and even signing up kids fast. States can use presumptive eligibility but still maintain the integrity of the program by running a full eligibility determination. States can send eligibility workers with laptops into the schools to take applications, but we should not ask taxpayers to foot the bill for people who are not eligible.” 

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Today on the floor, the Democratic leadership showed the political games are more important then healthcare for low-income children and those dealing with the devastating fires in Southern California.

From debate on the House floor this morning: 

REP. HOYER:  “…the time left to us is very short and to not proceed today and to push this off to next week then pushes off to the week following when the Senate can consider this legislation which then pushes off to the last week we’ll be here for Presidential action.  All of that is a constraint on the flexibility of scheduling.” 

REP. HOYER: “I don’t know that there is something happening today that won’t be true tomorrow.  I do know that there is concern about proceeding on the SCHIP bill.  I have made it clear, in August I made it clear that we have an agenda to accomplish.  If we were meeting Friday, that might be a different story, but we’re not meeting Friday.  So tomorrow was available, Saturday is available, Sunday, Monday are available.  I believe that Members ought to be with their constituents.  I don’t believe they’re going out there to fight the fire.  They’re going out there to be with their constituents…”  

REP. SESSIONS: “Will the gentleman yield?” 

REP. HOYER: “No, — you can ‘ohhh and ahhh’ – my point I think is clear.  My point is clear that the objectives of the members that are not here are understandable and appropriate, but what is not appropriate is for me to be put in the position or anybody who schedules on either side of the aisle, to be put in the position to have our legislative process stopped when we essentially only have a few hours left to go and important legislation to consider.”

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There are two major problems with the Democratic leadership on today’s SCHIP vote 

1. There will be 13 Southern California Representatives (9 Republican and 4 Democrats) absent from today’s SCHIP vote because they are where they should be – taking care of their family, friends, and neighbors during the horrific fires. Congressman David Dreier (R-San Dimas, CA), Rules Committee Ranking Republican and Leader of the California GOP Congressional Delegation, was joined by several of his California colleagues in formally requesting of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) that she delay any consideration of new S-CHIP legislation while members are in their districts dealing with devastating wildfires. In a letter to the Speaker, the California members said that members should not be forced to make a choice between an important vote like S-CHIP and being with their constituents in a time of need. The letter was delivered to Speaker Pelosi’s office amid reports that an S-CHIP vote would be held less than 24 hours after new legislation was shared with the minority.”  To see the letter or to read more, click here.

2. The new version of the Democrats’ SCHIP bill, H.R. 3963, was reported out of the House Rules Committee at 11:25 p.m. last night under a closed rule. Which means that the Republicans did not get to view the 293- page bill until late last night, let alone be part of the negotiations.  We will not even have 24 hours to review the bill before we vote on it. Republicans have stated that we are willing to work together to reauthorize the SCHIP program but Democrats have refused our offer.

Interestingly enough, according to Nancy Pelosi in A New Direction for America:   “Members should have at least 24 hours to examine bill and conference report text prior to floor consideration. Rules governing floor debate must be reported before 10 p.m. for a bill to be considered the following day.”

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As many of you are aware the veto for the Democratic proposed SCHIP was upheld. The Democrats delayed this veto for the last two weeks so that they could lobby the Republicans and the eight Democrats who voted against this bill. However, since the bill did not change and the problems that I and my colleagues had remained, most of us continued with our opposition of this bill. 

I have released two statements today. The first discusses the disgraceful and tactless MoveOn.org advertisement. This ad exploits a sick two-year and her family, while making accusation that Republicans are blocking funding for SCHIP, which is ludicrous.  

The other statement is about the SCHIP veto override attempt. As I have said before the sole purpose of SCHIP when it was created in 1997 was to insure low-income American children, not adults or illegal immigrants. For SCHIP to succeed, Congress must put poor children first.

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Tomorrow Congress is scheduled to take up the veto override after an unnecessary two week delay. I have heard from hundreds of my constituents and I appreciated them calling my office to weigh in on their opinion of this bill. But the problems that I and many of my constituents have with this bill have not changed and this bill still does not take care of poor children first.  

The expiration of SCHIP provides an ideal opportunity for Republicans and Democrats to work together to ensure that poor children continue to have healthcare coverage – as they have had since 1997 when Republicans created the program. Currently there are more than 500,000 low-income children eligible for the program but not covered.  Meanwhile, some 700,000 adults currently receive SCHIP benefits, including 87 percent of the enrollees in Minnesota and 66 percent of the beneficiaries in Wisconsin, according to the Congressional Research Service.

As I said in a statement I released yesterday if Democrats really want to act in the best-interest of low-income children, they should start by working with Republicans to improve SCHIP and ensure our nation’s poorest children are the rightful recipients of this program. Expanding this program to even more adults, middle class families and illegal aliens was not and should not be the purpose of SCHIP.  

On another note, I have heard some claims that there is not a provision in the bill that states that New Yorkers families that make up to $83,000 a year qualify for SCHIP under the Democratic proposal. Well it is included in the bill in Section 114.  

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