Campaign Update
Monday, October 8, 2007

Take Action: Urge your Representatives to Override the Veto!

On October 18th, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on whether to override the President's veto of the bi-partisan SCHIP Reauthorization bill. Based on the House vote tally on the compromise bill, 25 Representatives must change their votes in order to override the veto.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Call 1-800-828-0498 and tell your member of Congress to override President Bush's veto of the SCHIP reauthorization bill. Representatives listen to their constituents, so call TODAY – even if he/she already voted in support of the SCHIP Reauthorization bill.

IMPORTANT: The following Representatives from California did not vote for the SCHIP Reauthorization bill and have not indicated their intent to vote to override the veto, so it's even more critical to reach them. Please check to see if your Representative is on this list!

Your advocacy efforts are paying off: Representatives Diane Watson (D-California), Bobby Jindal (R-Louisiana), Dan Boren (D-Oklahoma), and Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who did not vote Yes onthe legislation, have announced that they will vote to override the President's veto. Let's add more California Representatives to that list! Our children are depending on us!

Background and Update:
On October 3rd, President Bush vetoed bi-partisan SCHIP reauthorization bill that would have provided $35 billion in additional funding via a 61-cent tobacco tax increase over the next five years. This critical legislation would prevent children from losing health care coverage and ensure that more children have access to affordable, comprehensive insurance.

Currently, SCHIP provides health coverage to over 6 million children nationwide– nearly 832,000 of whom live in California. Without this additional funding, millions of children risk losing health care coverage and many more currently eligible, but unenrolled children will remain uninsured. We cannot allow our children to go without the vital health care they need to grow up healthy and strong!

CALIFORNIA NEWSPAPERS BLAST THE PRESIDENT'S SCHIP VETO:

From the Los Angeles Times: Bush's heartless, mindless veto

From the Sacramento Bee: Bush health care veto leaves state in bind

For more information, please contact Krystal Moreno Lee at klee@childrennow.org or 916-443-1680.

The 100% Campaign, a collaborative effort of The Children's Partnership, Children Now and Children's Defense Fund, was created to ensure that all of California's children obtain the health insurance they need to grow up strong and healthy.
www.100percentcampaign.org

The PICO California Project is the united effort of 20 California congregation-community organizations affiliated with the PICO National Network. Collectively, we represent 350 congregations and 400,000 families statewide and are actively organizing in over 70 cities in Northern and Southern California.
www.picocalifornia.org