Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, we do not have any particular problem with this House resolution, but it is almost surrealistic what we are seeing here. This is not even a concurrent resolution, it is a sense of the House. Now, 2 weeks ago, in the committee, I offered in statutory legislative language an amendment to the debt reduction bill that would have done just exactly what this House resolution says ought to be done, and we would have it passed in law by the House tonight for immediate relief for the providers in this country if it had not been ruled out of order by the majority. So it is hard to understand, given the fact that we have had three different times we could have actually done something in law rather than come down here with a House resolution after this procedure that we witnessed all day today. Number one, it could have been put on the debt reduction package. Number two, it could have been put in the Medicare lockbox. Number three, an hour ago, the majority voted down the motion to recommit which says exactly what this House resolution says. So when I say it is hard to understand, it is hard to understand from the standpoint of asking what can we do as Members of Congress to bring relief to these procedures. We could have already done it. We could have already had the Medicare restoration fund that captures these unanticipated savings. We could already be in the process of giving immediate relief to the country.”