Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the sustainable growth rate, or SGR, is the formula through which Medicare reimburses physicians. Since 2003, Congress has voted 17 times for temporary patches, or ``doc fixes,'' to avert ever larger cuts to providers. The uncertainty of the SGR threatens doctors' ability to continue practicing medicine and accepting Medicare patients and endangers seniors' access to care. Absent congressional action, providers face a 24 percent cut on April 1, 2014. To stave off this cut, we can either pass another ``patch'' and kick the can down the road again, or we can repeal this flawed formula for good. Today's bill, H.R. 4015, firmly repeals the SGR and replaces it with payment reform policy that has been agreed upon by the bipartisan leaders of the Energy and Commerce, the Ways and Means, and Senate Finance Committees. As chairman of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, I have been working for the past 3 years on legislation to permanently repeal the SGR, and I am very pleased that on February 6, 2014, we reached a bipartisan, bicameral agreement, embodied in today's legislation. Unfortunately, since then, Senate Majority Leader Reid has refused to negotiate with us on how to pay for this package. So we have brought forward H.R. 4015, which is fully paid for by delaying implementation of the individual mandate--a policy supported by both Republicans and Democrats.…”