Don’t Let Debt Debate Distract Lawmakers from Bidding Repeal Effort

The following from the American Association for Homecare
appeared in the organization’s May 18 newsletter.

WASHINGTON — The debate about raising the debt ceiling
will suck up a lot of oxygen in Congress over the months ahead.
This means we will have to fight to maintain a focus on the need to
repeal bidding in
Washington — a city that suffers from attention as well as
budget deficits.

[Last] Monday, the United States reached its debt ceiling of
$14.3 trillion. The Secretary of the Treasury told Congress that he
will use accounting maneuvers to extend the debt ceiling to early
August. If the debt ceiling is not raised then, the federal
government could default on its loans and trigger alarm in the
world’s financial markets. Both the White House and the House
Republican leadership have plans to address the debt ceiling and
make significant cuts in federal spending, but the plans differ
dramatically. The White House plan cuts $4 trillion in spending
over 12 years through discretionary spending reductions and repeal
of some Bush-era tax cuts. The House Republican plan cuts $6.2
trillion of federal spending mainly through reduced spending and
entitlement reform, which includes fundamental changes to the
Medicare program.

While legislation to increase the debt ceiling will likely pass,
the debate will consume time and attention of House and Senate
members. To keep Congress on track to repeal suicide bidding, the
HME sector will keep the issue front and center.

If you have not contacted your senators and/or representative
about the fatally flawed bid program, you should do so immediately.
You can reach your senators and representative by phone by calling
the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202/224-3121. To email your federal
legislators, go to www.capwiz.com/aahomecare.

If your representative has cosponsored H.R. 1041, take time to
thank the legislator for supporting HME providers and patients.
This provides the opportunity to ask the member of Congress to
raise support to the next level by contacting Senate colleagues
about repeal.

If you have any feedback from your senators or your
representative, please provide the information to AAHomecare so our
staff can follow up with the congressional offices. Please contact
Jay Witter at [email protected] with specific
feedback.

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