Marsha Blackburn: “I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his diligence and his consistency through the years as we have worked on…”

“I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his diligence and his consistency through the years as we have worked on this issue at the Committee on Energy and Commerce. I do rise in strong support today of the Women's Public Health and Safety Act. There will be a lot said about this bill during the course of the day, but let's be certain in what the bill actually says. You have got two pages, and what this does is grant to the States flexibility. Madam Speaker, what they have asked us for is flexibility. Why are they asking us for this flexibility? Because we have four States currently in litigation over wanting to be able to determine who is and is not a Medicaid provider in their State. So there is a premise and a basis and a reason for bringing this forward and allowing the States to have the final say in who participates in that Medicaid delivery--that is what you call good government--and sending the power and the money back to the State and local level. This bill is necessary because the Obama administration has blocked attempts of States to remove certain providers from the program. Now, we have four States, as I said, that have had to go into court because they have tried to remove providers and CMS has blocked that action. So, therefore, they are not able to move these providers out of the program.…”