On the recordApril 14, 2015
I want to mention what Speaker Boehner said about this bill we are about to look into--the CHIP bill and the SGR, the physicians' payment bill. Speaker Boehner said: Unless the Senate passes the House-passed ``doc fix'' bill, significant cuts to physicians' payments will begin tomorrow. The House legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, and we do not plan to act again, so we urge the Senate to approve the House-passed bill without delay. He summed it up pretty well. The fact is this has been a long ordeal that a lot of us have worked on for a long time, a lot of people on Capitol Hill. If we can pass this bill tonight, it will be a major accomplishment and we can go back to the child health insurance bill. I remember standing here on the floor with Ted Kennedy on the other side passing a bill that brought a lot of angst to a lot of people but which has helped millions of children who were deprived of good health care. So this is a very important bill and I hope we don't foul it up. I don't think we will. Madam President, I stand today in support of H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. If enacted, this legislation would repeal and replace the Medicare sustainable growth rate, or SGR. That is the formula called the sustainable growth rate.…
