To have a mandatory second period means you are building in a delay for no practical benefit.

The Medicare Secondary Payer program is complex and arcane. Few people have heard of this program and even fewer understand it, but that does not mean it is insignificant.

We should renounce efforts to end Medicare as we know it.

Our goal should be to work with CMS and other interested parties to be sure we are appropriately weighing the concerns of beneficiaries and the concerns of taxpayers.

I sent a letter to Chairman Upton last month asking for hearings on the Republican budget's impact on Medicare & Medicaid

the budget that would replace Medicare for people under 55 with a privatized and underfunded voucher system

We face a lot of challenges in improving care for dual eligibles and reducing costs to the taxpayer but it is important to recognize that we shouldn't rush into new programs for purely a budgetary focus.

I want to mention that one of the results of the Affordable Care Act, which some people call Obamacare, was to extend the Medicare trust fund, and in fact, it was extended over 12 years.

we care about this issue and this is a hearing where we have collaborated in providing panels that will give us the best information

As you move forward in developing these new systems for dual-eligible beneficiaries, I think it is critical that you hear from the individuals and their family caregivers and get their input into the process to ensure that any new…

Well, we want to highlight that issue to look at carefully in your design of these proposals.

This is very expensive but not getting this care is worse, resulting in eroding health, trips to the emergency room, suffering for the patient and his or her family, and astronomical costs for the patient and the taxpayer.

We need to understand these risks and address them and we need to do that before approving another tar sands pipeline.

It is clear we need to pay serious attention to pipeline safety.

These pipeline incidents are tragic and we must act to prevent more loss of life and property in the future.

That legislation is a mistake. We should understand the unique safety concerns for tar sands pipelines, not accelerate pipeline approval.

I am concerned that the industry is changing but the safety regulations are not keeping up with the changes.

I look forward to working with the Republican majority on this issue.

Data security is not a partisan issue; it is something all of us should care about.

Sixty days would be an outer limit, but as soon as practicable?

The bill from the last Congress included an outer limit of 60 days from the discovery of the breach to provide notice of the breach.

I do believe that it creates, potentially creates a gap in authority.

Unfortunately, there are some changes in the bill that I fear weaken the bill rather than strengthen it.

The time for action is now.

I was here. I was saying you make a political decision you are going to wind up with big scientific problems at the end of the day, big scientific problems.