Funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program expired Sept. 30, and while the Senate Finance Committee approved a CHIP funding bill, negotiations in the House have stalled indefinitely, according to The Hill.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, drafted a CHIP funding bill that received no Democratic support and announced last week that he would open up the proposal to bipartisan talks. However, Democratic legislators are opposed to the Medicare and public health funding changes that the bill proposed would pay for CHIP.
"Republicans remain fixated on sabotaging the ACA anyway they can. I reject the premise that we can only offer healthcare to children by taking it away from others, and, to date, Republicans refuse to budge in that regard," U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J. said, according to The Hill.
Mr. Walden said that without Democratic cooperation, the full House will vote on the GOP bill once they return from recess next week.
"Despite Ranking Member [Pallone's] statement calling for renewed bipartisan negotiations nearly two weeks ago, we have yet to receive a single counteroffer from our Democratic colleagues," Mr. Walden said, according to The Hill.
Without action from Congress, some states could run out of funding for CHIP as early as November.