For immediate release
Contact: Gordon Whitman (734) 255-4029
April 16, 2008

With 9 million uninsured children in the United States, PICO National Network applauds the fact that the Presidential candidates have begun directly addressing the need to pass bi-partisan SCHIP legislation that was wrongly vetoed by President Bush.

"Extending health coverage to the millions of the uninsured children whose families are struggling to make ends meet is at heart a moral issue and therefore should be a top priority for the next President," said Rev. Bob Stevens, Chair of Congregations United for Neighborhood Action, the PICO affiliate in Lehigh Valley, PA. "PICO urges all of the Presidential campaigns to make a clear commitment to enact bi-partisan SCHIP legislation within the first 100 days of their administration."

Reauthorizing and strengthening SCHIP is a major priority for the faith community, including PICO National Network. In 2007, the House and Senate both passed strong bi-partisan legislation expanding SCHIP to 4 million low-income children. Polls show that 7 out of 10 Americans support expanding SCHIP to cover more children. Despite this widespread support, President Bush vetoed the legislation twice, and the House fell 14 votes short of overriding the veto. As a stopgap measure, Congress passed a temporary extension of SCHIP, which will expire within the first 100 days of the next administration.

The PICO network believes that reauthorizing SCHIP is one of the most important pieces of unfinished business from the Bush administration, and that all of the Presidential candidates should commit to make passing SCHIP legislation during their first 100 days a top priority.

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PICO National Network is a network of 53 faith-based organizations and one-thousand religious congregations working to revitalize neighborhoods and strengthen families in 150 cities and 18 states.  PICO is a non-partisan organization that does not endorse or support candidates for office.  For more information, please visit www.piconetwork.org.

Click here to see the full transcript of Senator Hillary Clinton's remarks Tuesday at the Newspaper Association of America's Annual Conference.