WASHINGTON, D.C. (WSAZ) – U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) is urging lawmakers to act swiftly to extend funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by the end of the year.

In a letter to the Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Capito, a West Virginia Republican, outlines her support for the program and how she helped implement the program in West Virginia when she was a state legislator.

CHIP benefits 9 million children throughout the country each year.

That number includes 22,000 children in West Virginia.

Capito's letter can be read below:

The Honorable Orrin Hatch
Chairman, Senate Finance Committee
219 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Hatch,

I applaud the bipartisan work being done by the Finance Committee to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Under your leadership, the program began and over the years has provided working families across the nation health insurance coverage options they would not have otherwise. I share your passion for this program and will continue to work with the Committee and Senate Leadership to move the reauthorization forward as soon as possible.

Throughout my time serving the state of West Virginia, I have supported CHIP. In the state legislature, I served on the committee charged with implementing the CHIP program in West Virginia. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and as a United States Senator, I have voted for bipartisan legislation to reauthorize and expand the CHIP program.

As you know, each year CHIP benefits approximately 9 million children and 370,000 pregnant women throughout the country, including approximately 22,000 children or 14,000 families in West Virginia. These families earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid, but often have no other coverage options. According to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, almost 85 percent of these children lived in households with one parent working at least 50 weeks of the past year.

The CHIP program remains essential for working families in West Virginia and across the nation. Thank you for all you are doing, and all you have done, to ensure its continuation. I look forward to working together to reauthorize the CHIP program as soon as possible.