"Soon we will have a new president who has committed himself to reforming our nation's health care system so every American can access affordable and quality health care." said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J. "The bill we are considering today makes a down-payment on that promise."
About 7 million children from working families with too much income to qualify for Medicaid now get government-provided health care.
The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to begin writing a similar bill Thursday. Some Senate Republicans complain that the House bill expands coverage to include up to 600,000 non-citizen children of legal immigrants.
