SCHIP Passed thanks to everyone's efforts

Thanks to everyone's efforts, thw Senate passed its version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) reauthorization and expansion bill.

This Bill extends the life of S-CHIP through 2013, and enables up tp an additional 4 more million uninsured kids to obtain coverage. The bill also lifts eligibility restrictions immigrant children that are legal.

The House passed a similar version earlier and is working towards getting the few differences resolved. More than likely, President Obama will sign the new bill, which was vetoed twice by former President Bush.

Thanks to the support of our Senators, Mel Martinez and Bill Nelson this bill passed. We are grateful to Senator Mel Martinez for voting in favor to extend coverage to immigrant children that are legal. In Florida, we had 15 of our 25 Representatives that also voted in support. This included Bi-partisan support of (Reps. Buchanan, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Diaz-Balart, Ros-Lehtinen and Young)!

A sincere thanks and round of appaluse goes out to all of the advocates who made calls to urge passage of this important legislation! Team Work made a difference.