Jimmy Kimmel's son appears on TV after second heart surgery

Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Jimmy Kimmel's younger son appeared on the star's show Monday after undergoing heart surgery last week.

Kimmel, 50, returned to Jimmy Kimmel Live! with 7-month-old Billy in tow after taking time off from the late-night program to care for the infant following his second open heart surgery.

Kimmel thanked the doctors and nurses at Children's Hospital Los Angeles before making an impassioned plea for healthcare. He slammed Congress for failing to approve new funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

"Parents of children with cancer, diabetes, heart problems are about to get letters saying their coverage could be cut off next month. Merry Christmas, right?" the star said.

"This is literally a life and death program for American kids," he added. "It's always had bipartisan support, but this year, they let the money for it expire while they work on getting tax cuts for their millionaire and billionaire donors."

Billy was born with a rare heart defect April 21 and underwent open heart surgery just days later. Kimmel said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in August that his son was "doing great" but needed two more open heart surgeries.

"He's doing great," the television personality said before joking, "He's juggling. He's translating Flaubert from French to English. He's really an amazing kid."

"He has to have two more open heart surgeries," he confirmed. "We would like to get them over with and not have to think about it all the time, but it could definitely be worse."