Political Quotes

“I want to express my disappointment that we are letting unemployment insurance be denied to so many long-term unemployed, especially a few days right after Christmas. We should not leave town until we have fixed this problem. I am going to vote for this budget because it will ease the irrational sequestration cuts that have already done so much harm to our country and our economy, which is the main reason that I am going to be an ``aye'' vote on the bill. But I am here to speak on behalf of the Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats to express my strong support for the temporary reprieve from the, what is called, SGR cuts, the cuts to physicians who see Medicare patients. Congress is making enormous strides toward the repeal and replacement of the flawed Medicare physician payment system, but more time is going to be needed to finish the job. As of today, all three congressional committees of jurisdiction have marked up historic bipartisan legislation that moves the system to one that rewards value of care rather than volume of care. This short-term extension that is part of this bill will allow 3 months for Congress to complete floor and conference action on this legislation. We need to keep this process moving full steam ahead to get a permanent solution on both the SGR as well as the other Medicare and Medicaid extenders as quickly as possible. This temporary patch will allow us the time to continue that work.…”