Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Wall Street welcomed President Barack Obama with a steep drop in stock prices.

Never mind the trillions in stimulus cash Congress approved, or that more than $1 trillion was handed out by the Bush White House, most of it to giant financial institutions with few, if any, strings attached.

Most economists believe the economy is still in a downward spiral and that more stimulus money will be needed.

Now states are being stung, especially those that rely heavily on sales tax revenues. Even Texas, which until recently was one of few economic bright spots, will have less tax money for the next budget than it has for the current one.

But Tuesday's inauguration signaled a new beginning that offers wonderful opportunities to break with the past. Clearly, the ill-conceived economic policies that put us in this bind must be corrected, and more stimuli are needed. We should, however, heed Obama and face our challenges with urgency — but also with shared responsibility, common purpose and sacrifice.

The Texas Legislature is likely to get a chance to assure that change isn't confined to Washington, and that Texas benefits from the coming stimulus measures in ways that will reach everyone, especially those with the greatest needs.

Before the inauguration, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program. Two similar measures were approved in 2007, but President George W. Bush vetoed both.

Obama has praised the latest CHIP bill, which is expected to sail through the Senate.

This bill doesn't expand eligibility for CHIP, says Anne Dunkelberg, associate director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities. It does, however, allow for them to grow naturally.

It also provides important incentives to states that enroll more children in Medicaid.

Shamefully, Texas continues to lead the nation in the number and percentage of children without health insurance.

Two programs — jointly funded with federal and state funds — insure children of parents who can't afford the premiums for private coverage.

Medicaid insures those from families that live at or below the poverty line. CHIP covers children of families that earn up to twice the poverty level.

But disturbingly, about half of Texas children are eligible for Medicaid or CHIP but are enrolled in neither. As many as three of four of Texas' uninsured kids are poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.

If we are smart — and the new bill becomes law — we could change this forever.

“Because Congress has made it a priority to cover the lowest-income children first, (the new bill will) have beefed up incentives to reward states that improve their enrollment of children in Medicaid,” Dunkelberg points out. “That would be very good for Texas because we have, conservatively, half a million children that qualify for Medicaid that aren't enrolled.”

The federal and state joint funding of CHIP and Medicaid works on a matching basis.

“For every state dollar spent on CHIP,” Dunkelberg gives as an example, “the federal government will pay $2.52.”

And unlike money given to the big banks, this money goes directly into local economies.

There is a catch.

“It is entirely up to the Legislature whether we take advantage of the new options we would have,” Dunkelberg says, by providing the money for the feds to match. “Basically, it creates new flexibility for Texas, but it is still up to the Legislature to take advantage of it.”

And the sums could be huge.

A report just released by Families USA, a think tank that tracks health care issues, estimated that under the proposed bill, Texas could get as much as $2.7 billion in new federal money and 51,400 new jobs with an additional payroll of $1.9 billion.

But will we be smart enough to take it — and insure all those uninsured Texas kids?