Thursday, January 22, 2009

Hill Report: Economic Stimulus and SCHIP

Economic Recovery Legislation

The House Democratic leadership unveiled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, an $825 billion package which includes $550 billion in spending and $275 billion in tax cuts. The legislation includes many increases in disability related programs. A summary is included in the action alert above.

We will be posting a breakdown of the disability related money later today.

Health Care

By a vote of 289-139, the House of Representatives passed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (H.R. 2), legislation to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) through FY 2013. It expands the program to cover approximately 4 million more children than currently covered. The bill includes a provision that would allow states to waive the federally mandated five-year waiting period for legal immigrants to receive SCHIP benefits. By vote of 12-7, the Senate Finance Committee approved a similar bill.


North Carolina has been working to expand our SCHIP program to cover more children but had been stopped due to the lack of support from the former administration. Former President Bush vetoed the expansion of SCHIP multiple times during the 110th Congress.

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