TPMDC House Republicans: January 2012
Doc fix
GOP Warming On Dem Idea To Fund Huge Medicare Hole
Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) And House GOP Doctors Caucus
House Republicans are coming around to the Democrats' plan for permanently ending the Medicare "doc fix" problem -- a $300 billion and growing albatross around the nation's neck that virtually everybody believes needs to be fixed. The option is now on the table, key Republicans tell TPM, just one month after some of those same lawmakers dismissed it as a senseless Washington gimmick.
Last fall Democrats began pushing the idea to pay for a full repeal of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula with war savings from troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Republicans didn't much care for it, but Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) hopped on board during the Super Committee negotiations, and has since been working behind the scenes to win GOP support.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Doc fix, House Republicans
Tort reform
Tenth Amendment Zealots Block GOP's Medical Malpractice Reform
John Boehner
Whatever happened to medical malpractice reform? The cause has long been a high priority for Republicans, yet legislation on the issue hasn't even made it to the floor of a GOP-dominated House in over a year. What gives?
It's not for a lack of effort. The answer is that states' rights advocates within the House GOP caucus have split from top Republicans on the lynchpin issue of whether the federal government should limit the amount that malpractice victims can sue doctors in a particular case, forcing party elders to shelve the bill.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: House Republicans, Louie Gohmert, Tort reform
House Republicans
'Our Members Are United': House GOP Brushes Off Tax Cut Defeat
John Boehner
House Republicans began 2012 by shaking off their defeat in last month's payroll tax cut standoff, conceding that the timing of their rebellion was less than ideal but insisting they're united for job creation and against President Obama in the new year.
"We've got a lot of disparate voices in our conference. The President wanted the payroll tax cut extended for a year, and so do we. We didn't think the Senate would leave, but it was pretty clear the Senate wasn't coming back," House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters Wednesday. "We were picking the right fight. But I would argue, we probably picked this at the wrong time."
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Barack Obama, Eric Cantor, House Republicans, John Boehner
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