Max Baucus: “I oppose the Grassley amendment for two reasons. I oppose it reluctantly. Senator Grassley is a very decent man. His…”

“I oppose the Grassley amendment for two reasons. I oppose it reluctantly. Senator Grassley is a very decent man. His heart is almost always in the right place. It is in the right place here, but I oppose this amendment. First, the amendment seeks to extend a stopgap measure for the payments of doctors under Medicare, but we should not prolong stopgap measures. We should pass a short-term stopgap, and then we should make meaningful payment reform for the payment of doctors under Medicare. That is what doctors want. That is what would be very much in the best interests of seniors, and that is the responsible way to govern. Second, the Grassley amendment takes its offsets away from the underlying health care bill; that is, the bill we are trying to pass in this next several weeks. Thus, it would undercut health care reform. We need the savings we included in the health care bill, especially the health reform bill. We should not be robbing the health care bill of its offsets. For those reasons, I oppose the Grassley amendment.”