Jeff Bingaman: “I rise today with Senators Rockefeller, Obama, Brown, Kerry, Byrd, Feinstein, Bill Nelson, Feingold, Murray, Bayh…”

“I rise today with Senators Rockefeller, Obama, Brown, Kerry, Byrd, Feinstein, Bill Nelson, Feingold, Murray, Bayh, Lincoln, Pryor, Whitehouse, Sanders, Cantwell, Tester, Clinton, Landrieu, and Salazar to offer a Joint Resolution that provides for Congressional disapproval of the rule submitted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, relating to a cost limit for providers operated by units of government and other provisions under the Medicaid program, 72 Fed. Reg. 29748, May 29, 2007. This rule is a very blunt and sweeping instrument. It is purportedly intended to stamp out certain categories of Medicaid fraud, which by CMS's own admission may only be an issue in 3 States. As a result of the sweeping nature of this rule, many States like New Mexico will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal Medicaid dollars. This would occur despite that fact that New Mexico and other States have worked hard to ensure the integrity of their Medicaid programs and have consistently received approval from CMS for the design and operation of their programs. Congress has reacted strongly to the proposed regulation with 65 Senators and 263 House Members publicly criticizing the rule. Ultimately, Congress temporarily prevented CMS from implementing the regulation.”