Disciples GMP: Override the S-CHIP Veto

The Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins is the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Like many religious leaders she has spoken out concerning the need to overturn the President's veto of the S-CHIP legislation. As a middle class professional I know that providing health insurance is a difficult thing to do. I have pretty basic coverage and an health savings account. I've not been tested yet, and I'm thankful my wife has her own insurance through her school. I think GW has bit off more than he can chew, and hopefully voices like Sharon's will persuade those on the edge.

Here is her statement:

Press Statement
Delivered by GMP Sharon Watkins
at Capitol Hill Press Conference on
Children's Health Insurance Bill
October 2, 2007

I am a Christian minister and a mother. When my children were young and they were sick, I took them to a doctor and the doctor treated them because I had health insurance. I shudder to think of the consequences, if my children had not had the health care and preventative they needed. Most of you are parents; you know what I mean, how your heart breaks when your child is sick.

Mr. President, members of the House and Senate, 9 million American children are without health care coverage this day. Those children are our children. God has given them into our care. We are the responsible adults who say whether they see a doctor or not. Our hearts need to break for them because they are our own. They are our future and we need to give them a bright future. When historians reflect back on this era, do we want to be remembered as the people who turned their backs on the uninsured children of this nation?

We have before us a compromise bill that will get nearly four million more of those kids to a doctor or dentist when they need it and give them access to preventative care. Simple human decency says no child should be left behind, Mr. President, and denying health care coverage to children is leaving them behind.

This past summer, our General Assembly gathered in your home state, Mr. President, and passed a resolution calling on our nearly 800,000 members to be advocates for children and to work at a grassroots level to ensure the expansion and proper funding of health care for children. In our faith tradition, one day, Jesus took a child, a stranger’s child, in his arms and said, “Whoever welcomes this child, welcomes God.” In the name of that child, in the name of millions of American children, our children, I call on you Mr. President, do not veto this bill or I call on you, members of the House and Senate to welcome the stranger’s child and override this veto!