Today, Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Congresswoman Darlene Hooley held a press conference in Portland to angrily denounce President Bush’s veto of SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program), voice disappointment at the failure of Thursday’s override vote, and call on Oregonians to take matters into their own hands and solve the crisis of uninsured children in Oregon by voting yes on Ballot Measure 50.

Listen to Congressman Earl’s statement here.

Congresswoman Hooley expressed frustration over Congress’ inability to override the President’s veto and voiced her support for the Healthy Kids Initiative. “It comes down to what kind of a society we want to be. Do we want to pull out all of a child’s teeth once they’ve rotted, or do we want to make sure that child gets to see a dentist for check-ups to begin with?”

Representatives of a variety of child and health advocacy organizations were in attendance to show their support, including the American Cancer Society, Parent Teachers Association, Children’s Institute, and Oregon School Based Health Care Network.

Congressman Blumenauer noted that millions of dollars are being spent on misleading campaign ads by Tobacco companies to oppose Measure 50 . “We’ve got an opportunity with the passage of Measure 50, that we at least can see through the smokescreen, that we at least can do something in Oregon,” he said.

Congressmen Peter Defazio and David Wu, though unable to attend the press conference, joined their colleagues by issuing a statement which also called on Oregonians to vote yes on Measure 50.

Posted on October 19, 2007 | Return to the NEWS Archive