Do some of the measures we took in health care reform help you in that regard with respect to Medicare Advantage?

Nothing happens without stretch goals in government.

I want to sneak in two more questions. One is in looking at the data, Medicare Advantage compared to Fee for Service surprisingly is 35 percent higher in improper payments. Why is that?

It has been very successful thus far and we are continuing to build on that.

$48 billion is a staggering sum of money. It is unacceptable for two reasons.

It is my impression in talking with the U.S. Attorneys Offices that Medicare fraud has increasingly moved up as a priority for them and consumes a lot of their time in terms of bringing charges against organized fraudulent activity on…

Mr. Chairman, given your incredible generosity, would you allow me one more question and I don't think it is a long one.

I thank you. Mr. Chairman, my time is up.

I thank my colleague and my friend from Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this rule, and I rise in opposition on substantive grounds. The Rules Committee approved for our consideration here on the floor every germane amendment…

This bill is a charade. It purports to increase oil production in America, yet it would direct construction of a pipeline designed to export oil. There is already one Keystone pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta into America. That…

Well, congratulations. This is probably the most radical anti-environment bill that the House of Representatives has ever considered. It cuts open space funding to the lowest level in a half a century. It opens the Grand Canyon to uranium…

I don't defend Fast and Furious, and I don't defend the actions of the U.S.

Who are you kidding? Cut, slash, and burn. You bypassed your own rules to bring it to the floor. You say it protects Medicare. It destroys Medicare. You say you're protecting jobs. You'll cost hundreds of thousands of jobs if this ever saw…

27 weeks the Republicans have been in charge of this House, and they have not brought a single jobs bill to the floor. Instead, House leadership has set its eyes on dogmatically asserting its goals of repealing health care reform and…

I have an amendment at the desk. The CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: At the end of the bill, add the following: SEC. 6. PROTECTION OF WATERS RECEIVING FEDERAL ASSISTANCE. None of the…

I would be remiss if I failed to note the irony of the legislation before us today. After 7 months of ranting and raving about the lack of regulatory certainty which causes economic stagnation, the Republican majority is now attempting to…

We are 2 short weeks away from defaulting on American debt, which would devastate our economy and plunge this country, if not the global economy, into a steep recession. We are engaged in three overseas wars as part of the broader struggle…

I yield myself the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds.

Let me say to my friend who is managing on the majority side, I spent 14 years in local government. We don't consider the Federal involvement in cleaning up the bay an undue burden. We actually consider it a partnership that has paid off…

I have introduced a bill, the Federal Cost Reduction Act, to make that statutory, just in case other people go away, and would double that goal over the next 5 year period.

this tool is unprecedented and there is lots of transparency and accountability.

Every single Republican in the Senate signed that letter you referenced saying they will move to block any nominee of the President's; so if we can't win legislatively, we're going to use other mechanisms to make sure that your mandate is…

I demand a recorded vote. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Virginia will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment No. 7 printed in House…

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I certainly hope his good work will not be discarded but in fact attended to because I think he set us on the right path in terms of U.S. technology policy.