Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for H.R. 6118, the ``Taking Essential Steps for Testing Act of 2012'' or TEST Act. This legislation will give the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) greater leeway when dealing with hospitals and laboratories across the nation. Last year I was contacted by a hospital in my Congressional District who informed me that they had unintentionally referred a proficiency test to an outside lab because the lab technician was following patient procedure. They informed me that because of this error they would be forced to potentially close the lab and essentially fire the lab director. Upon further investigation, I was troubled to learn that the same problem was occurring across the country because CMS lacked the authority to handle these cases in any other fashion. This is why I was happy to work with my good friend from New York, Mr. Grimm, and Mr. Ross from Arkansas, as well as Senators Boozman, Klobuchar, and Shaheen, to come up with a simple, commonsense solution to the problem. While working with CMS and our friends across the aisle, we were able to demonstrate that this institution is still capable of recognizing problems and pursuing solutions for the people we represent back home. It is my hope that the Senate will quickly take up this legislation and send it to the President for signature so we can help provide regulatory relief to our nation's hospitals and labs. The SPEAKER pro tempore.…”