NCJW Deeply Disappointed by SCHIP Defeat

October 18, 2007, Washington, DC -- The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) today expressed its deepest disappointment that the House of Representatives fell short of the two-thirds majority required to overcome President Bush's veto of the renewal of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). NCJW President Phyllis Snyder issued the following statement:

"It is deeply disappointing that the House of Representatives was unable to muster the two-thirds vote required to overturn the president's veto and reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program. While the inability of the House to override the veto was not unexpected, the reality of this defeat is nonetheless of grave concern. The failure to renew this bipartisan program will have real-life consequences for millions of children and their families for whom insurance is unaffordable or even simply unavailable.

"Much of the opposition to the SCHIP bill has been based on spurious claims about what it includes and a head-in-the-sand attitude toward skyrocketing health costs. Thankfully, the American public is not fooled by the smoke generated by SCHIP's opponents. The overwhelming majority of Americans support SCHIP and they agree that it is an outrage that the wealthiest country in the world does not have a system that provides health care for all its children.

"Efforts to insure our nation's children will not go away with the stroke of the veto pen. NCJW resolves to continue our work to extend SCHIP to cover uninsured children and to make health care affordable and accessible to all."

NCJW is a volunteer organization, inspired by Jewish values, that works to improve the quality of life for women, children, and families and to ensure individual rights and freedoms for all through its network of 90,000 members, supporters, and volunteers nationwide.

Contact:
Emily Alfano
202 296 2588 x5; emily@ncjwdc.org