AUSTIN — Sen. John Cornyn said Wednesday that he was confident Congress will pass a more permanent reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Texas was granted an additional $248 million Friday to keep the state's program running through March. The money was from the $2.85 billion that Congress appropriated in December to fund CHIP as part of a short-term spending bill that keeps the government open until Jan. 19.

"I've been monitoring it very closely to make sure that no one, no child in Texas is denied access to health care by virtue of our inability to get it passed so far," Cornyn said in a call with Texas reporters. "What we would like to to do ... is to pass at least a five-year re-authorization, and I do believe that is highly likely to happen on or about the 19th when the current continuing resolution expires."

Though Texas has enough funding to last three more months, other states' programs are not guaranteed the same amount of time with money from the short-term spending bill, said Johnathan Monroe, a spokesman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Congress allowed CHIP funding to expire Sept. 30. The program covers more than 9 million children nationwide, 400,000 of whom are in Texas. The delay in reauthorizing CHIP has confused children's health advocates because both parties have supported CHIP since its creation in 1997.

The House passed a bill in November extending CHIP for five more years, but the Senate has yet to do so.

Dallas Morning News reporter Nicole Cobler contributed to this report.