Ted Kennedy: Kennedy At SEIU Rally In Support Of Chip

October 1, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, made the following remarks at a rally held by the SEIU in support of the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

(As Prepared for Delivery)

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Will you stand up for children?

Will you stand up for parents?

Will you stand up for working families?

Then you’re in the right place. Because we’re here to speak up for the 10 million children helped by the bill that’s on the President’s desk.

I’d like to thank Dennis Rivera for leading the fight for America’s working men and women. I also want to thank my very good friend, John Dingell, who has spent more than 50 years in Congress working for America’s families.

And thank you all for being here today to send a very loud and clear message to the President: Do not turn your back on America’s children.

We all know what this is about.

It’s about peace of mind for parents, so they don’t have to worry how to pay if their children get sick.

It’s about proud working families, struggling to provide for their families.

But most of all, it’s about fairness. And in America, we understand fairness.

Congress just passed a bill that would invest $35 billion to strengthen the Children’s Health Insurance Program and bring good, quality health care coverage to over 10 million children.

Expanding CHIP will make a real difference so that no parents will ever have to ask again whether they can afford to take their sick children to the doctor.

It’s supported by thousands of religious and community leaders across the nation.

It passed overwhelmingly with the support of Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

And now its future hinges on the decision of just one man.

President Bush has the power to help 10 million children receive health insurance. Or he can turn his back on America’s children by vetoing this legislation.

After watching hundreds of thousands of children lose their coverage on his watch, it’s incomprehensible that the President would threaten to veto legislation that fixes the problem.

It’s a question of priorities. For the price of one day in Iraq we could cover 256,000 children.

One week in Iraq would cover 1.8 million children.

And just over a month of the Iraq war would cover 10 million children for a whole year.

President Bush is willing to spend billions and billions on a war in Iraq. Mr. President, how about a little attention to our children here at home?

We’re here to tell him that we’re not going to stand for it. We’re not going to allow the most vulnerable members of our society be turned away because their parents can’t afford the doctor.

So I ask President Bush and those in Congress who support his veto:

You have health care paid for by the government. So why would you deny the same right to the children of working families?

Those who oppose this bipartisan bill like to talk about fiscal responsibility. I’ll tell you something about responsibility.

When a child without insurance gets sick, their parents have to take them to the emergency room.

That’s a cost of 423 dollars they have to pay out of pocket – and it’s money they don’t have for rent or food or clothes.

None of us in Congress have to make that choice. We can all sign up for coverage that the government subsidizes. When our children get sick, we can take them to a family doctor. We don’t have to wait in a crowded emergency room for a medical intern with too little time and too many patients.

And we have the option of taking our kids to our own private medical staff in the Capitol. The President has his health care paid for by the taxpayer too.

But when it comes to children of working families – now the tune changes. The President and the opponents of this bill say, “Let them go to the emergency room and wait their turn. Let their parents have to worry whether they can afford the cost. It may be good enough for us to have the best health care in the world for us and for our kids – but not for you!”

Let’s end the double standard.

Let’s end the hypocrisy.

Let’s give the children of working families the health care they deserve.

We all know that the President’s veto has real consequences. In a moment you’re going to meet Keith Taylor and his mother Carolyn. If the President follows through with this veto, millions of children just like Keith would be denied health care simply because their parents can’t afford it.

We’re here today with one simple message to the President. Let’s make sure he hears it.

Put our children first.

Let me hear you say it.

Put our children first.

Say it again.

Put our children first.

And we’re going to keep saying it louder and louder.

Let them hear you in the Senate.

Let them hear you in the House of Representatives.

And let them hear you in that big White House across the street.

Let them hear you across America until all of our children receive the health care they deserve.

Are you ready to say it’s time to put children first?

Are you ready to fight and fight and fight until we get the job done?

I can’t hear you!

Then let’s get to work!

Source: Senator Edward M. Kennedy