AACF would like to thank the U.S. House of Representatives for taking action earlier today to ensure children in Arkansas and across the nation continue to get the quality health care coverage they need to succeed. Today’s bipartisan U.S. House vote to renew funding for the highly successful Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP, or better known as ARKids First here in the state) will help ensure that kids from low- and moderate-income working families continue to receive the care they need to reach their full potential.

Reps. Womack, Hill, Crawford, and Westerman all voted for the measure. CHIP has a long history of bipartisan support, providing coverage for children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but don’t have access to affordable health care. As a result of CHIP’s implementation, coverage rates for kids across the country are at a historic high of close to 93 percent.

“We thank the members of the Arkansas delegation that voted to stand up for Arkansas’s kids and support this vital program’” Rich Huddleston, AACF executive director says. “Their actions will help make sure more than 60,000 Arkansas kids keep the coverage and quality care families depend on. As the Senate takes up legislation to renew CHIP, we strongly urge them to build on the House bill by quickly passing a four-year extension of this critical program. By ensuring funding stays intact, Congress can provide the stability families and state officials need to plan without worrying that the promises Congress made for the future of CHIP won’t be kept.”

42 governors of both parties called on Congress to move quickly to fully fund CHIP. Most states are planning on finalizing their budgets now, and many have already factored the amount of promised federal CHIP funding into their plans. In Arkansas, this means Congress must take action to pass this legislation or Arkansas will have to cut funds from its 2016 budget.

“The message is loud and clear,” Huddleston says. “CHIP is an important lifeline for Arkansas children. Congress has taken an important step today and we urge members to finalize legislation quickly to provide families and states the stability they need to plan for the next four years.”