In the News

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, took issue Tuesday with President Donald Trump's request that Congress rescind $7 billion in previously approved funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program -- a move which he argued would make it "harder for millions of kids to get the health care they need."

Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, slammed the president for offering a $15.4 billion rescissions package that seeks to cut billions in funding from the program that provides health coverage to nearly 9 million low-income children.

Although the White House stressed that the president's request targets "spending that is unnecessary, unused or cannot be used for its original purpose," the congressman cast the proposal as yet another GOP-led effort to slash CHIP funding and pay for recent tax cuts. 

"In order to shower benefits on the well-off and well-connected, President Trump and congressional Republicans want to slash funding for a program that provides health care to children in middle-class and low-income families. Tax cuts don't pay for themselves, and Republicans' most recent $2.3 trillion gift to their wealthy donors is no exception," he said in a statement. "Now, on top of saddling the next generation with crushing debt, the GOP is making it harder for millions of kids to get the health care they need."

Neal added that Democrats "understand that health insurance costs are a significant financial burden for families" and are committed to making health care more affordable and accessible.

Administration officials, however, argued that the proposed $7 billion in CHIP cuts will have "no programmatic impact" or affect health care access as most of that funding comes from dollars allotted in 2017 that cannot be spent.

"The Children's Health Insurance Program--which the administration strongly supports overall--contains $7 billion in funds that are either no longer necessary or can't be spent because the authority to do so expired last year," the administration said in a statement. "Rescinding these funds will have no impact on the program."

Officials added that "at some point Congress will likely 'rescind' those funds as a budget gimmick to offset new spending elsewhere, as it did on the recently passed omnibus."

"Instead Congress should rescind the money now," the White House said.

Despite the White House's claims, the proposal has drawn pushback from Democrats and even some Republicans -- particularly in the Senate, according to reports.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who helped create CHIP, told the Washington Post that the reported cuts were concerning and that she did not know why there would be funds left in the program's account. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, meanwhile, contended that the president's proposal seeks to "appease the most conservative special interests and feel better about blowing up the deficit to give the wealthiest few and biggest corporations huge tax breaks."

Aside from the proposed CHIP cuts, Trump has also requested that Congress rescind: $4.3 billion from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, which officials said has not made a loan since 2011; $800 million from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which the White House said is in excess of funds needed for fiscal years 2018 and 2019; and $252 million "in excess funds remaining from the 2015 Ebola outbreak response," among other things.

Congress now has 45 days to act on the rescissions package before it expires.

The president's rescissions package came just months after he signed a pair of spending bills that reauthorized CHIP funding for 10 years.

Massachusetts officials had raised concerns about the program's future after its authorization expired and was not immediately renewed. 

Massachusetts spent $769 million on CHIP last year, of which $677 million was reimbursed by the federal government, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services reported.

About 160,000 Massachusetts children relied on CHIP for health insurance as of February.