More than 60,000 low-income children in Washington won’t lose their health insurance, for now. The House and Senate voted to approve a temporary federal spending bill Thursday that included $2.9 billion for the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The funding is meant to allow CHIP to continue operating through March. Funding for the program expired Sept. 30. About 4,000 Clark County kids benefit from the program.
Washington’s CHIP coffers would have emptied Feb. 1 without additional funding.
The spending bill only funds the government through Jan. 19, however, meaning lawmakers will need to return immediately after the holidays to pass a long-term spending bill. It’s possible at that time more long-term funding for CHIP would be approved.
U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, voted in favor of the spending bill. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, both Democrats from Washington, voted against the bill, along with two Republicans, one Independent and 27 other Democrats.
“While I fought to include a longer-term fix for the Children’s Health Insurance Program similar to the five-year extension I helped the U.S. House pass in November, the three-month funding patch I supported today will ensure the health care of nine million vulnerable children who rely on CHIP doesn’t lapse,” Herrera Beutler said in a press release. “Providing quality care for low-income children has always been a top priority of mine and I won’t let up in my efforts to extend CHIP long-term so that their health isn’t jeopardized.”
