Max Baucus: “we all want to fight fraud, waste, and abuse. In fact, there are many provisions in this bill which so provide. To add…”

“we all want to fight fraud, waste, and abuse. In fact, there are many provisions in this bill which so provide. To add to that, when we negotiated the bill, the White House came up with even stronger provisions. They have the screening, time to check for payments, and so forth. I talked with the Senator from Florida, Mr. LeMieux, who also has good ideas. I pledge to him to do what we can to get some of that passed this year. However, the amendment before us is much too punitive. It is arbitrary in its numbers. I think it would be counterproductive, especially at a time when States are already struggling with their Medicaid Programs. I think it would be inappropriate for us to lay this arbitrary punitive measure on them.”