Texas lawmakers mull 'safety net' bills for children's insurance

The Texas Legislature enters the final day of its session needing to take extraordinary steps to salvage several state agencies and avoid a special session. House members adjourned just after midnight without approving a measure to extend children's health insurance for the working poor. Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, has pleaded for the House to take up a bill in which a seemingly defeated measure was revived that would create a buy-in feature for 80,000 low-income children to enroll in the Children's Health Insurance Program.