Political Quotes

“let me say to our colleague from Louisiana that I very much agree with much of the statement he has given. I have been interested in these sensible policies with respect to providers since the days when I was codirector of the Oregon Gray Panthers. So our colleague from Louisiana is talking about important issues. As chair of the Finance Committee, I can say that nobody on either side wants to see financial hardship for healthcare providers or disruption to the healthcare system. This is particularly important when you have got COVID, what looks like a god-awful flu, and an RSV crisis filling up the doctors' and hospitals' waiting rooms nationwide. What I can tell my colleague from Louisiana is that, on both sides of the aisle on the Finance Committee, Democrats and Republicans have put in some long hours--long hours--discussing solutions to these physician payment issues with our colleagues in the House on both sides and the administration. Our discussions include other critical healthcare issues. For example, I think my colleague knows that Senator Crapo and I have been very focused on mental healthcare, making it easier for Americans to get mental healthcare when they need it. And we are especially proud that this bipartisanship is paying off. As our colleagues may know, Senator Crapo and I got four major provisions--four--into the commonsense gun safety law--everything from helping kids on Medicaid, behavioral health--our colleague, Senator Stabenow.…”