[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5870]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            BUDGET REALITIES

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, the realities of the Republican budget 
are starting to come into focus, especially health care. Vouchers to 
insurance companies will cost seniors and society more.
  Today, Members of Congress are being inundated by visits from 
hospitals and health care providers who are in a panic about the 
Medicaid block grant that will allow the Federal Government to shift 
its burden for the poor and the disabled to States who often cannot or 
will not make up the difference in the fund loss.
  Most disappointing, Republicans have abandoned the work on Medicare 
reform. The reform provisions in the Affordable Care Act used to be 
bipartisan. Instead of increasing the total cost of health care and 
shifting the burdens to the elderly, poor and disabled, we should be 
taking our medical spending--already the highest in the world--and 
showing how we can get more out of it.

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