GOP Doctors Caucus

Floor Speech

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Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Dr. DesJarlais. I appreciate your yielding.

In fact, Medicaid is going to destroy the Federal budget and create a total economic collapse of America if we don't change it from the present system. That's before ObamaCare even takes place and markedly expands the States having to cover many more people, as my good friend from Maryland, Dr. Harris, was just explaining.

But there are alternatives. Hopefully, we can repeal ObamaCare and replace it with something that makes sense. But there is a solution today. And, in fact, the Republican Study Committee, several us in the Republican Study Committee--Jim Jordan, our chairman, Todd Rokita, Tim Huelskamp, and I--introduced the State Health Flexibility Act, which would freeze Medicaid spending at the current level and will block grant those funds to the States with no strings attached. Not only for Medicaid, but also for the State Child Health Insurance Program. And what the States would do is utilize those funds in any manner that they want to. If they want to do drug testing on Medicaid or SCHIP recipients, they can. They can organize the program any way they want to, which is going to be the solution because it freezes spending at current levels.

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Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Absolutely. In fact, the State Health Flexibility Act does that same thing, and the only growth is due to population in any State, so it does account for that change in the population of any given State.

But we have solutions. We have economically viable solutions that Republicans are submitting and, hopefully, we can get passed into law. But of course we've got to have a Senate that will even take up those kinds of bills, because the House has passed bill after bill after bill to create a stronger economy, to create jobs here in America, to lower the cost of gasoline, to develop all our energy resources.

We've got these bills that will solve the problems for Medicaid. Even my Patient Option Act is across-the-board health care reform. It repeals ObamaCare and replaces it with policy that makes health care cheaper for everyone, provides coverage for all Americans, and will save Medicare from going broke. And you add that, with the State Health Flexibility Act, it covers everybody.

We have solutions, but Harry Reid is an obstructionist. He's acting as a puppet for this President, and they throw in the trash can every bill we send over there.

We've got to create jobs. We've got to create a stronger economy. We have solutions to the health care problem.

All of us are physicians. All of us are physicians out here that are talking tonight. We've just been joined by one nonphysician, but she's been a strong supporter of the Doctors Caucus, and we've seen her here many times, Mrs. Lummis from Wyoming.

But we have solutions. The American people need to understand, Republicans have solutions, and we need to have the ability to pass those solutions into law so that we can have policy that's not going to break the bank. We're going into an economic collapse of America if we don't stop this inanity.

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Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Before you go to Mrs. Lummis, I'd like to reclaim my time and just say this: Our State of Georgia is struggling. We have a balanced budget amendment to our State constitution. We're having a difficult time dealing with the extra cost, not only of Medicaid, but all these government mandates that are foisted upon our State from the Federal Government.

It has to stop. And the only way we're going to stop it is for we, the people, across this country to demand a different kind of governance from their Senators and Congressmen, and particularly from the President of the United States.

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