Olson: Bachmann Turns Back on Working Families
ANOKA – Bob Olson, a DFL candidate in the 6th Congressional District, released the following statement following Michele Bachmann's vote to uphold the president's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program funding bill:
"Working families were counting on Mrs. Bachmann and today she turned her back on them."
By voting to sustain the president's veto of the S-CHIP funding bill, Mrs. Bachmann made it painfully clear that when she talks about family values that doesn't mean providing health care for low-income kids."
"With 9 million uninsured children nationwide, including 85,000 here in Minnesota, we need leaders whose actions match their rhetoric."
"I'm proud of the local people who took time to let the congresswoman know what an important issue this is. While it appears we lost this round we must never give up the fight until every child in America has access to the health care they deserve."
S-CHIP currently provides insurance coverage for 6.6 million children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicare and not enough to afford private insurance coverage.
The bill passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress last month, opposed by Bachmann and vetoed by President Bush, would have renewed S-CHIP funding and extended coverage to another 3.8 million uninsured children.
More information is available at www.bobolson.org.
“Children in need should have the health insurance promised to them before expanding SHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) further up the income ladder or using more of the program’s resources for adults and noncitizens,” said Bachmann. “Rather than playing politics with children’s health care or scoring points with radio and TV ads, Congress can show the American people that we are here to solve problems.”
