{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://goodlatte.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1049", "Virginia House Republicans Call on U.S. Senate to Act on CHIP", "2017-12-01", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Robert Goodlatte", "G000289", "goodlatte.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "On behalf of the Virginia families we represent in Congress, we ask that the Senate act now to reauthorize CHIP. \r\n          share:\r\n          f \r\n          t \r\n        \r\n      \r\n      Today, an op-ed authored by Representatives Bob Goodlatte, Rob Wittman, Scott Taylor, Tom Garrett, Dave Brat, Morgan Griffith, and Barbara Comstock appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch urging Virginia\u2019s senators to act on reauthorization of the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The full text can be found below or by clicking here:  \r\n\r\nRichmond Times-Dispatch: U.S. Senate Must Act on CHIP  \r\nBy Rob Wittman, Scott Taylor, Tom Garrett, Bob Goodlatte, Dave Brat, Morgan Griffith, and Barbara Comstock  \r\nDecember 1, 2017  More than 8 million low-income children in the United States depend on the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for health coverage. That includes 66,000 children and 1,100 pregnant women here in Virginia. Under Virginia\u2019s CHIP program, thousands of children have received immunizations, annual checkups, and preventive screenings that detect illnesses like cancer and heart defects before they become fatal. Unfortunately, as the days on the calendar continue to tick by, these children come closer to losing the coverage they need to keep them healthy. Why? Because the United States Senate has yet to act on legislation to reauthorize CHIP, which lapsed at the end of September. While Virginia luckily has sufficient funding to ensure coverage during this period, Governor McAuliffe has indicated that this holiday season the state will begin to notify families that children will no longer have CHIP health coverage after January 31, 2018. The House Energy and Commerce Committee worked diligently and in good faith to produce legislation that would fund CHIP in a fiscally responsible way. The CHAMPIONING HEALTHY KIDS Act, which would reauthorize CHIP through fiscal year 2022, was brought to the House floor and passed by a vote of 242-174. We cast our votes in favor of this legislation to make certain that the 40,830 Virginians using this coverage in the congressional districts we represent are not left in the lurch. It\u2019s hard to fathom why the Senate would stall this legislation or why anyone would choose to play politics with a program that has traditionally received bipartisan support. Thousands of Virginia children are in jeopardy of losing their health care coverage if the U.S. Senate doesn\u2019t act. We\u2019ve done our part in the House. Now, we need Virginia\u2019s senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, to step up to the plate and urge quick action. We also hope McAuliffe will join us in the effort to advocate for the Senate to bring the CHAMPIONING HEALTHY KIDS Act up for a vote. On behalf of the Virginia families we represent in Congress, we ask that the Senate act now to reauthorize CHIP. Virginians deserve certainty that this program will continue.  \r\n\r\nThe writers represent the following Virginia congressional districts in the U.S. House: Rob Wittman \u2014 1st District; Scott Taylor \u2014 2nd District; Tom Garrett \u2014 5th District; Bob Goodlatte \u2014 6th District; Dave Brat \u2014 7th District; Morgan Griffith \u2014 9th District; Barbara Comstock \u2014 10th District. http://www.richmond.com/opinion/their-opinion/guest-columnists/wittman-taylor-garrett-goodlatte-brat-griffith-and-comstock-column-u/article_4fbbe53f-e257-57e3-8c4f-74808b612998.html", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://goodlatte.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1049"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9354758076369762, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}