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Alaskan Congressman Don Young signed on as cosponsor today to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Extension Act of 2007. This legislation will seek to set party politics aside by extending the authorization of the current SCHIP program for the time it takes Congress to work in a bipartisan fashion and put together a comprehensive bill providing benefits to low-income, uninsured children. Additionally, it will increase the level of funding available to States to ensure that each State’s SCHIP program will be fully supported during this interim time.

"The bill the House passed in August, though well-intentioned, was so poorly thought out it left gaping loopholes throughout," said Rep. Young. "Essentially it robbed Peter to pay Paul, except in this case, Peter represented our Nation’s senior citizens. Not to mention, at a time when our Nation is struggling to address the issue of illegal citizens, I hardly think providing them with free health care is going to help our case. The bill embodied the politicization of crucial policy and the bill I’ve signed on to will immediately work to undo that damage.

"It is unacceptable that the two parties of this House can’t work together to form a comprehensive bill that aids our Nation’s low-income children, and doesn’t steal from our senior citizen’s to do so," Rep. Young continued. "Instead of sitting back and watching Alaska’s children lose the funding they need to preserve their health care, I’ve decided to take a proactive stance and work towards getting this reauthorization passed. I urge my colleagues to pass this extension and come together to form a bill that works to the good of our children, not towards our own political gains."

Without passage of this bill, Alaska will be one of 13 states to face an immediate federal funding withdrawal for the SCHIP program.

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