Pelosi Remarks During Meeting With Paul Simon, Dr. Irwin Redlener of Children's Health Fund

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: "Good afternoon. It is absolutely a delight to be able to welcome Paul Simon to the Capitol of the United States, especially to do so in order to thank him for all of his help with the State Children Health Insurance Program.

"This Children's Health Fund - where he has worked with Dr. Irwin Redlener - the two of them have been champions for America's children. For a number of years, they have been lobbying on Capitol Hill, most recently focused on SCHIP and now it's the law of the land. And now 11 million children are eligible have access to health care and we are so thrilled with that.

"We were just laughing about the fact that when Paul Simon received the Kennedy Center Honors, a few years ago, one of the people who toasted him was Steve Martin. And Steve Martin got up in a very serious way, and said if he could say this and he could say that in praise of Paul Simon, but this was neither the time nor the place. But of course that was exactly the time and the place.

"Well, this is also the time and the place to praise Paul Simon for his relentless advocacy for our children for his ability to reach out to them in a very special way. And not only them, many people who have impact on their lives.

"So as I said, this is a delight to welcome him to the Capitol to thank him for his leadership. To thank Dr. Redlener for his leadership as well. And after we finish meeting with you, we'll go back and make some more plans for the children. And now, Paul Simon."

Paul Simon: "Thank you. I'm here today really to thank Speaker Pelosi for her leadership in ushering the SCHIP into a reality. The last time I was here, it was almost a reality, and then it was defeated. And now it is a wonderful opportunity for the poorest children to find medical care where there was none before.

"And also to say that in this financial crisis that we are suffering, that the problems have to be attacked from the top of the financial- from the banking system, and from the bottom. The poor are really suffering. Poverty really, really inflicts suffering and those that suffer the most are the children, and I am here to encourage everyone, all the senators and the Speaker, to put that issue in the forefront.

"I know there is a lot of competition from a lot of needy sources for attention. But I don't want us to forget the innocent, the weakest in our country, the children."

Dr. Irwin Redlener, Children's Health Fund: "Just briefly, I just want to say Paul and I have been working on this access for health care for children since 1987, and we have taken care of about 2 million health care encounters for medically underserved children from coast to coast in rural and urban areas.

"And we're here to tell you that this is not just a matter of compassion, which we should have an abundance of in this time of suffering as Paul mentioned, but I really do think that in these troubled economic times how children do, how they reach or don't reach their potential, will matter a great deal to our country for a fiscal point of view, for an international competitiveness point of view, and it really does matter.

"So the Speaker's work with these issues is deeply appreciated right now for all the children that are benefiting from her leadership and others of her colleagues, but I think that we are all going to benefit from this kind of work for the years to come. We're happy to be here with you."