On the recordMarch 27, 2014
I am sorry, but I simply cannot support yet another temporary SGR patch. This bill is bad for seniors, and it is bad for doctors. We want to achieve a permanent solution to this ongoing problem. This bill does nothing to achieve that goal. In fact, it sets back months and months of hard work. What we should be considering today is the bipartisan- bicameral agreement that my colleagues and I developed. That bill is what doctors' groups and patients' groups support. That bill can also be offset without robbing one provider to pay another provider. What is before us today doesn't fix the problem. It exacerbates it. We had a true opportunity to finally accomplish what our constituents have asked us to do for a decade, and that is to pass a permanent repeal of the SGR, but the Republican leadership is letting that opportunity slip away. I respect my colleague from Pennsylvania, but I don't believe that if we pass another patch that we are going to go back and do a permanent fix. My fear is, by doing this, we will lose the opportunity to do the permanent fix and that it will simply slip away. Two weeks ago, the Republicans brought to the floor our agreement, and they added a poison pill offset that they knew the President and the Senate would never accept, a delay of critical Affordable Care Act provisions.…
