Governor Schwarzenegger Lends Support to Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act (ICHIA)!
Monday, June 11, 2007
- Organization: CALIFORNIA IMMIGRANT POLICY CENTER
Governor Schwarzenegger Lends Support to Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act (ICHIA)!
Dear Friends,
Your calls to the Governor's office worked! In a letter dated June 5, Governor Schwarzenegger asked Congress to cover lawfully residing immigrant children and pregnant women (also known as ICHIA, the Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act) in this year's reauthorization of State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), as one of the key priorities for California. Please thank Governor Schwarzenegger for prioritizing ICHIA in this year's SCHIP reauthorization by contacting him at 916-445-2841 or www.govmail.ca.gov.
Current Status of ICHIA:
ICHIA (S. 764, H.R. 1308) is currently under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee as part of the SCHIP reauthorization. The Senate Finance Committee will be reviewing priorities within the SCHIP reauthorization and deciding what will be included in the Chairman's Mark in the next few weeks! It is critical that the Chairs of the Senate Finance Committee include ICHIA in the Chairman's Mark for SCHIP reauthorization. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will soon be reviewing SCHIP priorities as well.
Updates:
- Senator Boxer is now a co-sponsor of ICHIA! Call her office to thank her for her support of ICHIA!
- Senators Boxer and Feinstein have signed on to a letter from Senate Democrats to Senator Baucus, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, to urge him to include ICHIA as part of the Chairman's Mark for the SCHIP reauthorization.
- The National Governors Association (NGA) sent a letter to the Senate Finance Committee Chairs on June 7 reflecting the SCHIP priorities of the nation's Governors, which includes covering lawfully residing immigrant children and pregnant women, a long-standing NGA policy.
What needs to be done this week!
ü Urge the Senate Finance Committee to include ICHIA in the Chairman's Mark for SCHIP.
o Contact the Committee Staff at (202) 224-4515
o Contact Senate Finance Committee Chair, Max Baucus (D-MT) at (202) 224-2651 or http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue
o Contact Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member, Charles Grassley (R-IA) at (202) 224-3744 or http://grassley.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
ü Contact key House members to co-sponsor ICHIA.
o As the House Energy and Commerce Committee will be deciding SCHIP priorities in the near future, it is important that California House delegates show support of ICHIA as a priority for the state. Current CA co-sponsors of ICHIA in the House are: Berman, Capps, Lantos, Solis, and Waxman.
o Contact your CA Congressional House member, especially Republican members, and urge them to co-sponsor H.R. 1308 today! The member should contact Representatives Solis or Waxman to join as a co-sponsor.
o You can contact your House member by calling the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or by email via National Council of La Raza's email alert at: http://capwiz.com/nclr/issues/alert/?alertid=9621161
Here's a sample script:
Hello, this is ____ calling from ____ [Briefly describe your group].
We urge the Senate Finance Committee [or House Representative] to include ICHIA (pronounced like the store IKEA) in the Chairman's Mark for the committee's SCHIP proposal [or to co-sponsor ICHIA]. We want Congress to restore equity and reduce health disparities for immigrant children and pregnant women this year.
California's Governor as well as other Governors also want ICHIA to be included in this year's SCHIP reauthorization. ICHIA will improve the health of lawfully residing immigrant children and pregnant women, whose families work, pay taxes and play by the rules. ICHIA must be included in this year's SCHIP reauthorization to ensure children have access to health care.
Don't forget - sign on to support ICHIA!
If you haven't already, join in support of ICHIA by signing on to a national support letter at: www.caimmigrant.org.
For more information about ICHIA, go to www.caimmigrant.org or contact Cary Sanders at (510) 663-8282 ext. 303 or Sonal Ambegaokar at (213) 639-3900 ext. 114.
CIPC 405 14th St. Suite 1400Oakland, CA 94612
