Unlikely that CHIP bill will pass in 2014, CAA says.
Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) introduced yesterday the Children’s Health Care Insurance Program Extension Act of 2014, a bill that would extend CHIP through 2019, The Cigar Association of America (CAA) reported.
CAA has been preparing for CHIP legislation, and noted it does not believe Rockefeller’s bill will gain significant traction this year.
Importantly for the cigar industry, Rockefeller’s bill extending CHIP lacks a funding mechanism, and Congress does not need to act on CHIP before the program’s funding expires in September 2015, CAA pointed out. Those factors, combined with Rockefeller’s planned retirement at the end of this year, make it highly unlikely that a Rockefeller-backed CHIP extension will pass in 2014.