Pete Stark: “I strongly oppose HR 2614, the bill being considered on the House floor today with the innocuous title of ``the…”

“I strongly oppose HR 2614, the bill being considered on the House floor today with the innocuous title of ``the Certified Development Company Program Improvements.'' Those provisions are far surpassed by major controversial tax, Medicare and Medicaid proposals that have been added to it by the Republican leadership without any consultation with our side of the aisle or the Administration. This bill is a stellar example of what goes wrong when the legislative process is discarded and replaced with closed-door negotiations among a few select members of the majority party. And, it clearly spotlights the wrongheaded priorities of the Republican party. On both the health front and the tax front, the bill before us today is a disgrace. The provisions of this legislation squander real opportunities to provide assistance to the families in our country who need the most help and instead lavish funds on those who need it least. It also provides gifts to industries that have thwarted our efforts to pass a Patient's Bill of Rights, a Medicare prescription drug benefit, and would prefer not to see an increase in the minimum wage. On the Medicare front, nearly 40% of the spending is directed to the HMO industry when only 16% of Medicare beneficiaries are even enrolled in Medicare HMOs. HMOs will get $11 billion in new funds over 5 years and more than $34 billion over 10 years.”