The CHIP programs, which provides health insurance to 9 million low-income kids, expired nearly a month, and while Trump has taken the time to fight with the NFL and Republican Senators, he hasn’t said a word about the millions of children who are now at risk.
As Sarah Kliff of Vox noted, the program is in danger of shutting down in some states within weeks, “Because the longer Congress goes without funding CHIP, the less money state programs have to continue their coverage. Politico reports that there are already five states that have received emergency funding to keep their CHIP programs up and running. This ranges from a $3.6 million grant to Minnesota to a $177 million grant to California. Most of the states receiving this funding say they now have enough money to run the program through the end of the year, but make no guarantees after that. And some of these states are statutorily required to shut down their programs if the federal funding comes to a halt.”
The struggle to authorize funding for CHIP is the kind of self-made crisis that House Republicans specialize in. It is also the exact sort of moment that presidential leadership is required to solve. Getting CHIP funded should be an easy win for any president. The CHIP program has massive bipartisan support, and what could look better for a struggling president’s poll numbers than making sure that low-income kids can go to the doctor?
Trump could use his Twitter account or speeches to make it look like he cares, but this president confirmed that he doesn’t care by not saying a word. Think of all of the nonsense that Trump has tweeted about in the past month, then realize that 9 million kids are about to lose their health care and the President Of The United States doesn’t care.
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The word crime is frequently associated with Trump, but one of his biggest crimes against the country is being an MIA president. The nation is flying on autopilot with dysfunctional congressional Republicans at the controls.
Basic tasks are not getting done. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is only interested in tweeting and golf.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
