Future of SCHIP, School Food Unclear as Congress Prepares to Adjourn
As this issue of the newsletter is posted, Congress has just returned from a Thanksgiving break and is expected to take action during the three weeks remaining before final adjournment on two measures concerning child health—a reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and an amendment to a pending farm bill that would restrict foods that can be sold in schools.
SCHIP
In a letter to its state leadership November 29, the Washington division of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) urged its members to be aware of important negotiations now ongoing to craft a revised version of a SCHIP authorization bill, following a veto by President Bush of earlier legislation and a vow by the President to oppose any new proposal that doesn’t meet administration limitations on funding of SCHIP over the next five years.
In addition to the funding problem, "Discussion between the House and Senate have centered on a number of issues, including a prohibition on illegal immigrants enrolling in the program; the role of employer-sponsored insurance; efforts to insure lower-income children first; presumptive and Express Lane eligibility; and even caps on Medicaid eligibility," the AAP pointed out. Congressional willingness to give way on those issues in order to please the President would "weaken the program," the AAP cautioned.
The current status of SCHIP is shaky. The original 10-year authorization for the child insurance program expired at the end of the 2007 fiscal year in October, and the program is now operating under its early rules and funding until December 14, when Congress will need either to have to have a new authorization in place or to extend the existing program further, possibly until after the first of next year. State administrators have said that such interim arrangements without assurance of future funding are stressing their programs to the point that insurance may have to be cut back.
Complicating the picture is the fact that Congress will have an extraordinarily full agenda when it convenes this month, including passage of a major war funding bill, a farm bill, and appropriations for 11 of the 12 federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Junk Food in School
Congress will be asked to vote this month on a proposed amendment to a farm bill that would impose the broadest limits to date, nationally, on what children can buy and eat at school. Introduced by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), who is chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, the school food amendment deals with so-called junk foods, such as candy, soda, and salty/fatty items sold in school vending machines, snack bars, and cafeterias, not with the federally supported school lunch or breakfast menus.
Although Harkin has introduced a similar amendment unsuccessfully in the past, he is more optimistic about passage this time around because of recent involvement by the food and beverage industry in the school food debate. Aware of increased public interest in child health, the American Beverage Corporation this year came up with proposed standards for bottled beverages to be sold in schools, including that only plain water and eight-ounce servings of fruit juice or plain or flavored low-fat milk will be sold in elementary and middle schools and high school students will able to buy only diet soda, sports drinks, or drinks with less than 66 calories per eight ounces.
Both the new SCHIP bill (H.R. 3963) and the farm bill (S. 1859) can be read and tracked on the Congressional Record website, http://thomas.loc.gov.
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