Political Quotes

“a lot of things have happened. We are on the path, I hope, to being able to pass a budget that balances in 10 years. It has some problems, but I think it would be a major change from the course we have been on, and so I will support it. I hope to be able to support it, although things could happen, I guess, between now and our final vote. One of the things I wish to share with my colleagues is simply that the proposal to fix the doctors' payments--the so-called doc fix, the SGR--which has been around for a long time is one of my highest priorities. It is, indeed, unreasonable and unjustified to require doctors to be uncertain every year as to whether they are going to get a 21-percent or so reduction in their Medicare payments. They can hardly do the work at that fee level. So we do need to fix it. However, on the same day that we are now declaring that we want to pass a budget that puts us on a financial path to balance in 10 years by a meager $3 billion--a balanced budget plan, a responsible plan; an idea and goal to achieve--we are also talking about passing an unpaid- for plan, and in my view it is not responsible, to spend and borrow another $141 billion, after the proposed offsets, to pay for the doc fix. This is what brings this Congress into disrepute.…”