Political Quotes

“I want to thank Mr. Waxman for yielding to me at this time. I rise in opposition to H.R. 5, brought to the floor by my Republican colleagues. It does two things. It repeals IPAB as created in the Affordable Care Act, and it enacts a medical malpractice reform long sought by my Republican friends as a way to protect pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, and health care providers from any liability or full liability when they cause harm or death. The medical malpractice part of this bill is so bad that the California Medical Association rejects the bill and says to vote ``no'' unless they had a decent medical malpractice reform part in it. And when the doctors will reject medical malpractice reform issues, you know it's got to be bad. This extreme proposal is really not needed. I happen to agree with the part of the bill that repeals IPAB. We refused to include it in the House version of health reform. And Congress has always stepped in in its congressional manner to strengthen Medicare's finances when needed, and I see no need for us to relinquish that duty. We only have to look at the health reform law. It has extended solvency; it has slowed spending growth; it has lowered beneficiary costs; it has improved benefits, modernized the delivery system, created new fraud-fighting tools. We've done a good job.…”