M E M O R A N D U M
To: Reporters and Editors
Re: failed Medicare vote
Da: Thursday, June 12, 2008
Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance, made the comment below about the Senate vote on a Medicare bill (S.3101) this afternoon and the refusal of the Senate leadership to allow a vote on an alternative measure (S.3118):
"The Democratic leaders’ bill failed. They knew it would. The Democratic leaders wouldn’t even allow a Senate vote on an alternative that could be signed into law immediately. Their political exercise wasted time and taxpayers’ money. You might as well take a match to a pile of tax dollars. Now, Congress has 18 days left to make sure doctors serving Medicare patients don’t get hit with a draconian cut that would put them in the position of not being able to serve seniors. Lawmakers need to work together to fix the Medicare physician payment problem, address Medicare Advantage problems, and make sure we don’t create new problems for Medicare’s already troubled fiscal condition by overreaching. I hope that this failed vote will get us to the negotiating table."