WASHINGTON—In a letter sent today to Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, urged the two Democratic leaders to reconsider their decision to shutdown negotiations on reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). He asked them to work with him and other Republicans to reach a bipartisan compromise that the President can sign into law immediately.
Noting that historically, SCHIP has been both a “bipartisan program” and a “bipartisan success,” Sen. Cornyn wrote, “every Member of Congress, regardless of party affiliation or political ideology, should be able to agree that providing health care for low-income children must be a top priority of this Congress.”
Sen. Cornyn also expressed his concern with recent news reports stating that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and liberal advocacy groups are targeting vulnerable Republicans with political attack ads during the two-week period that House Democrats have delayed scheduling a veto override vote that is widely expected to fail.
“I am troubled by the appearance that your refusal to negotiate is motivated more by partisan politics, with an eye toward next year’s election, instead of a sincere desire to reach a bipartisan compromise that will help America’s low-income children. I sincerely hope that is not the case.
“If you believe that covering low-income children in Texas and across the country, requires more than the 40 percent funding increase that Republicans have introduced, I am more than willing to work with you to find a reasonable, bipartisan solution. But, reauthorization of SCHIP is too important to be used as a political pawn for campaign purposes.
“I ask you to reconsider your decision to shutdown negotiations and urge you to work with Senators such as myself to reach a bipartisan SCHIP compromise that the President can sign into law immediately.”
To view a complete .pdf copy of Senator Cornyn’s letter to Majority Leader Reid and Speaker Pelosi, please click here.
Sen. Cornyn serves on the Armed Services, Judiciary and Budget Committees. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Border Security and Refugees subcommittee and the Armed Services Committee’s Airland subcommittee.
Numbers to call your representatives and let them know you expect them to uphold the president's Veto, can be found here.
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