Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act Of 2009

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Mr. BOYD. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from California yielding.

As we have seen so many times in the past, ladies and gentlemen, the minority party has again offered a very insincere proposal that does not fix the issue at hand. This proposal is a gimmick that would eventually lead to deep cuts in Medicare.

In contrast, this underlying bill recognizes that the current baseline of physician spending is no longer useful in projecting obligations for providing physician services to Medicare beneficiaries.

The underlying bill fundamentally addresses this issue that Congress has acted on six times in the last 6 years for a temporary patch that has only made the problem worse. That is what they want to do again.

As my colleague, Ranking Member PAUL RYAN, mentioned earlier, this issue should be resolved in a bipartisan way, but that is not forthcoming here today. In the meantime, we must ensure that our seniors have access to their doctors.

In addition, this bill also addresses the pay-as-you-go rule. Under Republican rules, record surpluses were turned into record deficits as the pay-as-you-go rules expired. We cannot police ourselves with regard to fiscal discipline. That is why we have to have these rules in place. My Blue Dog colleagues and I have urged implementation of this policy for years.

I urge a ``no'' vote on the MTR and a ``yes'' vote on the underlying bill.

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