Political Quotes

“as many of you know, I am co-chair of the Senate Rural Health Caucus and have worked on rural hospital and provider equity issues for a long time. Of course, the Senate does not always agree on every issue especially when it comes to health care. Over the years, however, the Rural Health Caucus has proved to be a bipartisan forum for Members on both sides of the aisle to come together and work on real solutions to help rural Americans have access to the same affordable, quality health care services as folks living in urban areas. There are now over 80 members of the Rural Health Caucus, and together we remain committed to making sure the unique health care needs of rural and frontier areas are met. We all shared the success of passing landmark rural Medicare equity provisions in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. This legislation included the most comprehensive attempt to put rural providers on a level playing field with their urban counterparts. Clearly, this was a significant victory, but there is much more still to do. As most of you know, the President's fiscal year 2007 budget eliminated or severely reduced several effective and efficient rural health programs. Now, I have long believed that we need to hold Federal agencies and programs accountable for the taxpayer dollars they spend. I also believe the Federal Government cannot be all things to all people.…”