SCHIP support needed

Julia Easley, our good friend and partner at Children's Medical Center Dallas, sent the following our way last week after President Bush vetoed the SCHIP legilation. This message comes to us from one of our best hospitals in Dallas. Read on!
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Last week, President Bush vetoed the SCHIP Reauthorization Act.

Your help is needed again to ask the House of Representatives to override the President's veto.

Background
Congress must reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) this fall. Called CHIP in Texas, the program insures more than 300,000 low-income children including 43,000 Dallas area children.

The SCHIP Reauthorization Act will provide $35 billion over five years to fund an expansion of SCHIP. An additional four million children are expected to be covered under this bill.

Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed the bill by wide, bipartisan majorities last week and sent it to the President. He vetoed the bill.

The next step is for the U.S. House of Representatives to attempt to override the president’s veto, which will require a two-thirds majority vote. Our representatives need to hear loud and clear that we want them to pass the bill and override the veto.

You can help!
Please take just three minutes to write your member of the U.S. House of Representatives and urge them to override the president’s veto and support this vital program for children’s health.

Here's a simple way to write your members of Congress: Go to http://capwiz.com/nach/issues/alert/?alertid=10377536&type=CO.

This link is provided by the National Association of Children's Hospitals.

Follow these steps:
1. Click on the link
2. Enter your zipcode and click Go
3. You will see a prepared message that you can edit if you'd like.
4. Add your name at the bottom and enter your contact information
5. Under hospital affiliation, choose TX-Children's Medical Center Dallas
6. Send your message
7. Share this with others if you'd like

The choice to participate is yours alone.

If you do participate, thank you for volunteering to speak up for the hospital and the children we serve.

For additional information about SCHIP go to: http://www.childrenshospitals.net/nach/schip .

If you would like more information about this campaign, please contact Julia Easley, director of Advocacy at Julia.Easley@Childrens.com.