It is a step we can take immediately that will make a real difference in the lives of these wounded warriors and their families. and I hope the President will think about that before he vetoes this bill. Now. I am disappointed that the CHIP bill doesnt include the Legal Immigrant Childrens Health Improvement Act. which I introduced with Senator SNOWE and have been working on with her for a number of years. This bipartisan bill would give States the flexibility to provide Medicaid and CHIP coverage to lowincome legal immigrant children and pregnant women. I want to underscore that. We are talking about legal immigrant children and pregnant women. The current restrictions prevent thousands of legal immigrant children and pregnant women from receiving preventive health services and treatment for minor illnesses before they become serious. Families who are unable to access care for their children have little choice but to turn to emergency rooms. This hurts children. plain and simple. and I think it costs us money. A legal pregnant woman who cannot get prenatal care may have a premature baby. who ends up in a neonatal intensive care unit. which ends up costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars. So I hope we are going to be able to lift this ban and make it possible for States to access Medicaid and CHIP for legal immigrant children and pregnant women. But I could not be more proud that the Senate is voting on expanding health care to 3.8 million children. There is no debating the importance of this and the way the Senate has come together in order to produce this result.
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