Last week was another busy one here in Washington, D.C. as the House of Representatives convened for legislative business and took up a wide variety of issues. Among these were the conflict in Libya, the debt limit, and Homeland Security and Veteran’s Affairs funding. The list of priorities continues to grow, as we still see too much government spending and not enough job growth, however progress is being made as House Republicans work to ensure the top priorities of Americans are put first.
The House was back in session on Tuesday, after commemorating the sacrifices of our Armed Forces on Monday with Memorial Day. The GOP Doctors Caucus – a group of 21 Republican doctors and nurses in the House that I co-chair – held a Special Order hour on Tuesday evening to speak out about President Obama’s proposal to fix our Medicare system. While Democrats have been busy using scare tactics and demagoguery in an attempt to distract the American people, we have yet to draw attention to the Administration’s proposal, which entails nothing but a Medicare cut panel. This unelected panel of bureaucrats created by ObamaCare will cut Medicare access and services from sick and disabled seniors and will certainly not solve our Medicare crisis.
To shed some light on the dangers of this Medicare cut panel, the Doctors Caucus not only discussed it on the House floor, but also sent a letter to President Obama urging him to repeal this board immediately. We need to save Medicare, not end it entirely, which is what this panel would ultimately do. It is important to us, as physicians and legislators, to hear from our constituents and patients about this important issue. That is why we released a petition for anyone to sign and leave comments on our website. I would encourage all of you to visit the GOP Doctors Caucus website and read the petition to learn and understand more about the serious risks this panel – called the Independent Payment Advisory Panel (IPAB) – poses. Check back to the website regularly to see what the Caucus is doing to ensure that Medicare continues to provide care for you, your children, and your grandchildren.
Last week, all of the House Republicans met with President Obama in the White House for a discussion regarding the debt limit and how we can move forward on a solution. I described the meeting as “frosty” simply because I know that efforts to raise the debt ceiling are non-negotiable: we need fundamental spending reforms that will offset any raise in our debt ceiling, period. Any attempt by the Administration or our Democratic counterparts to raise the ceiling unconditionally is untenable, as we saw last week after the failure of the stand-alone debt ceiling vote in the House.
A reduction in spending has to continue to be a top priority, as we still see unemployment rates that are too high. Job growth is far too low, and we need to help employers and businesses by getting government and overregulation out of the way. This is why the House voted on legislation to help small businesses grow. Read more about this bill and other votes in the next section of my E-Newsletter, “From Inside the Capitol.”
There are many concerns I share with the constituents of Northwest Georgia, but as you can see, the economy, job creation, and cutting spending are at the top of the list. As we continue to reverse the Democrat’s big government agenda and make progress in these and other areas, I will be sure to keep you updated.
Sincerely,
Phil Gingrey, M.D.
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