Joe Pitts

And I will never support a proposal that would take that coverage away.

However, Medicaid is the lifeline of nearly 72 million children, elderly, and low-income individuals depend on for health coverage.

I take protecting Medicaid seriously, and I have used some of the good program integrity proposals we have to consider here today as efforts to advance that goal.

Proposals that ensure Federal and state taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately on delivering quality care and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse from occurring should be supported.

It is my hope that through the policies we discuss today and through future actions by this committee, we can work together on a bipartisan basis to boost Medicaid program integrity.

I hope we can all agree that multimillion dollar lottery winners should not be eligible to receive Medicaid.

This is a common-sense policy that deserves our bipartisan support.

This bill would allow the States to continue defining the small group health insurance market as employers with 1 to 50 employees.

Today's legislative hearing will consider a bipartisan bill authored by distinguished members of this subcommittee Vice Chairman Guthrie and Mr. Cardenas, along with Representatives Mullin and Sinema.

If Congress passes H.R. 1624, premiums will be lower and millions of employees and employers by letting them keep the plan they have and like.

Unless this current law is reversed, the disruption in the marketplace will be significant.

I support efforts to amend the law and give States the discretion to exclude abortion providers from receiving taxpayer funding through Medicaid.

When we talk about abortion, we are talking about two lives--the life of the mother and the life of the unborn child.

Modern medicine treats the unborn child as a patient.

The real question for all of us is whether that tiny human life has a God-given right to be protected by the law.

How ironic that pro-choice advocates oppose letting unborn babies choose life.

Abortion supporters cloak their support for abortion under the guise of women's right to choose.

Essentially what we are doing with the crude oil export restrictions is raising gasoline prices in order to subsidize a select group of refiners.

Would you explain again your assertion that lifting the export ban would increase reliance on foreign imports?

How has the use of energy, you know, by regional players, shaped the Czech energy policy and planning?

I believe that Congress will be increasingly forced to take steps to modernize the Medicaid program.

Each administration has a responsibility, with Congress, to ensure that taxpayer dollars used for Medicaid are spent in a manner that helps our neediest citizens.

This is not ideology. This is arithmetic.

But, as we all know, the current trajectory of Medicaid spending is problematic.

No doubt Medicaid is a critical lifeline for some of our Nation's most vulnerable patients.