The Congressional Research Service has issued a study describing an emerging crisis in children’s healthcare across the country, according to a story by Robert Pear in the New York Times.   California will begin cutting off 64,000 children each month beginning in January if the standoff between President Bush and the Congress is not resolved.

While Congress and the White House debate — or avoid discussion — state agencies responsible for child welfare are scrambling to cover a funding shortfall.  Nine states will run out of money by March 2008 if Congress doesn’t approve a measure, and eleven others by autumn of 2008.  As Leslie Cummings of California’s Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, notes in the Times that "the stalemate in Washington is having a real impact on children here . . . this is getting less and less hypothetical."

Studies prepared for Congress by CRS are not immediately available to the public, though CRS is funded by taxpayer dollars.  To find out more about this problem, go to http://www.opencrs.com. 

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