First of all, Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out and I would like to enter into the Record a letter from the American Medical Association and many, many other physicians' groups, as well as State medical societies, in opposition to the…

Do I still have 3 minutes? The SPEAKER pro tempore. Yes. The gentleman from New Jersey has 3 minutes remaining.

I now yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott). Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, apparently, Winston Churchill once said: Americans will always do the right thing but only after they have tried everything else. Then…

I thank Mr. Waxman. Mr. Speaker, today the Republican leadership once again chooses politics over substance and what is good for the American people. The current SGR patch will expire on March 31, at which point Medicare's payment to…

I hope that if the chairman intends to move forward on any of these bills, that the Administration, stakeholders, and Democratic staff would have an opportunity to weigh in.

Mr. Pallone. Mr. Chairman, I would just ask unanimous consent to submit for the record some Democratic comments in a letter to CMS.

When we were told of this development, there were requests from staff on whether any Democratic bills on Medicare could be included today and those requests were ignored.

One bill in particular is quite egregious. It attempts to gut the coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act in order to provide billions of dollars to private insurance companies.

What I am trying to get at is whether the reductions that CMS has proposed to the plan...

I think we should strive to improve the quality provided to all Medicare beneficiaries both in the fee-for-service system and the Medicare Advantage program.

I think that what Congress has done to encourage these different payment models is exactly the right thing.

But I know this is a very complex issue and I would like to get to the bottom of it.