[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 165 (Friday, November 19, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    REMARKS IN SUPPORT OF H.R. 3075

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ROBERT A. WEYGAND

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 18, 1999

  Mr. WEYGAND. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3075, the 
Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 
and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important measure.
  With a wide majority of my colleagues, I voted for the Balanced 
Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) after it emerged from the conference committee 
two years ago while I opposed earlier versions of the bill. The final 
draft of the BBA accomplished many positive things for our seniors and 
our country. It expanded preventative benefits, such as increased 
access to mammographies and other cancer screenings, greatly increased 
health care access to children through the SCHIP program and enacted 
several strong anti-fraud and abuse provisions within the Medicare 
program.
  Since the enactment of this broad and comprehensive legislation, I 
have been working hard to smooth out some of the provisions which have 
caused concern for the many health care providers and Medicare 
beneficiaries in my state. During consideration of the budget 
resolution for last year, I offered an amendment which called on 
Congress to restore some of the inequitable reductions to home health 
care agencies as a result of the Balanced Budget Act. My amendment to 
the Congressional Budget Resolution was approved and represented the 
first legislative action on the road to the eventual restoration of 
some of the reimbursement rate reductions for home health care agencies 
in last year's omnibus budget bill.
  A great number of us recognized last year that much more needed to be 
done for health care providers and seniors, which is why I am pleased 
that we are finally debating this bill on the floor. I am disappointed, 
however, that the majority has chosen to consider this measure by 
suspending the rules, barring members from offering amendments. 
Although this legislation will pass by a wide margin today, we cannot 
rest on this accomplishment. We need to continue working to bridge the 
differences between what is included in this piece of legislation and 
what has been included in a separate measure in the other body. As with 
any comprehensive piece of legislation, there are provisions about 
which I have concerns within this bill and would prefer certain 
provisions of the bill awaiting action by the other body. While the 
Senate and we both intend to provide much needed resources to health 
care providers in our states, we have understandably taken different 
approaches and offered different solutions.
  I look forward to continuing working with my colleagues in both 
chambers and the administration to ensure we enact positive relief 
before the end of this session of Congress.

                          ____________________