House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi didn’t hold back Thursday when criticizing the House Republicans’ inclusion of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program in their short-term spending bill as not good enough.
“This is like giving you a bowl of doggy doo, put a cherry on top and call it a chocolate sundae,” the Democratic leader said during her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill. “This is nothing.”
The continuing resolution put forth by House Republicans includes a six-year reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides low-cost health coverage to children in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid.
The California Democrat said her party wanted the program funded for the next 10 years, which she argued would save the government more money than reauthorizing the program for six years. She also argued that a deal should have been done in September.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday, “I feel that it makes no sense for Democrats to try and bring us to a shutdown, to try and cut off CHIP funding for states that are running out of money like Minnesota, and Washington, and Kentucky, and other states.”
House leadership is scrambling to put together enough votes to pass a short-term government spending bill and avert a shutdown on Friday.
