Mike Levin: “It has become clear, not only to my colleagues in Congress, but also to the American people, that the intransigence of…”

“It has become clear, not only to my colleagues in Congress, but also to the American people, that the intransigence of President Bush and his supporters in the House and Senate have made it difficult to advance long-needed bills to improve Medicare and expand the Children's Health Insurance Program. The bill we are considering today in no way reflects negotiations with the Senate on the CHAMP Act that the House approved with a bipartisan majority on August 1st, and the Senate's Medicare and SCHIP priorities. Rather, it is a skinny health extenders package that generally extends some provisions in current law for only 6 months. Shoring up Medicare from years of neglect under the Republican Congress and expanding the Children's Health Insurance Program to cover 10 million low-income children are top priorities for me and the New Democratic Majority in Congress. That is why the House approved the CHAMP Act of 2007 to eliminate the scheduled Medicare physician payment cuts for the next 2 years and expand the Children's Health Insurance Program to cover 10 million low-income children nationwide. The only reason that the legislation we approved in August to improve the Medicare and SCHIP programs has not been signed into law is because President Bush and his allies in Congress oppose it.”