In today’s rapidly changing and increasingly competitive world, Americans must constantly look for ways to make our country stronger. For decades, we have been the world’s clear superpower. Suddenly, countries such as China, India and Russia are emerging as major players on the global economic scene, forcing us to sit up and take notice. We are not guaranteed our status as a world leader—we must earn it.

While our position as the world leader is based on many contributing factors, there is one common factor that will allow us to maintain our position as the single economic superpower—education. If we don’t ensure that we are graduating students with the skills in math, science, and other key disciplines to compete with international students, our nation will lose its competitive edge.

Education is the key to our nation’s future, which is why I continue to work closely with educators and parents to promote educational initiatives that will improve our students’ abilities to compete in the global marketplace. If our students show up for school unhealthy or are too sick to show up at all, the steps we take to improve their education will not matter. Before we can educate our children for the future, we must properly prepare them for learning and ensure they are healthy so they will be ready and excited to learn.

This is why I support SCHIP – the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. The negative impacts on our society of neglecting children’s health have a long reach. Unhealthy children fall behind in their studies and slow down the entire class while teachers attempt to help them catch up. If you ask any teacher about the impact of good health on education, you will learn very quickly that our entire nation pays a steep price for failing to keep our kids healthy.

SCHIP helps to remedy this problem by assisting hard-working, low-to-middle income families obtain affordable health care for their children. In turn, it allows these parents to send their kids to school healthy and ready to learn.

Our nation needs these young people to be competitive in a world marketplace. We need our children to grow up ready to become scientists, engineers, researchers, and inventors. We need them prepared to conquer world challenges such as new energy technologies, global climate change, pandemic diseases, and a vastly increasing world population.

Before our kids can conquer these challenges to lead the world, they need a good education. And before they can get a good education, they need good health. They need SCHIP. In today’s competitive world, it is more important than ever that we make sure our nation’s most precious resource, our children, have the tools they need to succeed.