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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (552642)	3/1/2010 11:35:39 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573433

Construction workers were forced to leave the job today; 400k had their unemployment benefits cut off; doctors fees are getting cut which threatens medicare treatment for thousands if not millions of people. I understand Bunning wants to reign in gov't spending but where was he from 2000 to 2006 when spending was out of control, pork was Congress's favorite meat, Bush was starting two wars and the rich were getting a trillion dollars in tax cuts? Smells like hypocrisy to me. Can someone stop the madness! Senator Bunning Blockade Leads To 21 Percent Fee Cut For Doctors Brian Beutler \| March 1, 2010, 3:22PM Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) is already infamous for blocking a temporary extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits for out of work Americans. But included in that package is legislation to prevent a mandatory pay cut for doctors--and by standing in its way, he's triggered a 21 percent fee reduction to doctors seeing Medicare patients starting today. Republicans say they support a temporary measure to avoid the cuts, but they have been unable to rein in Bunning, and, as such, the Senate has failed to act on a House bill that staves them off. The American Medical Association warned of this last week: "A Medicare meltdown now seems certain, as the U.S. Senate has left early for the weekend, abandoning seniors, military families and baby boomers," reads an AMA statement from Friday. "The Senate failed to repeal the Medicare physician payment formula that will cause a drastic 21 percent payment cut to physicians who care for Medicare and TRICARE patients. On Monday, the 21 percent cut goes into effect, forcing many physicians to limit the number of Medicare and TRICARE patients they see in order to keep their practice doors open." On a conference call with reporters this afternoon Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) put it this way: "By his actions, Bunning has prevented people from receiving Unemployment, health care access, transportation projects from going forward, and Doctors who provide Medicare services from getting paid." Today, for the seventh time, Bunning objected to a request for unanimous consent to temporarily extend benefits. In addition to cutting doctor's fees, his exploitation of the Senate's filibuster rules has cost thousands of out-of-work Americans their benefits and has even put thousands of federal employees out of work. Democrats hope to resolve the issues in a longer-term way by passing jobs bill (which includes benefits extensions and a so-called "doc-fix" for Medicare reimbursement rates) next week. In the mean time they're bracing for Bunning and the GOP to take as many steps as possible to delay legislative progress. Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had to force an end to debate on the confirmation of Barbara Keenan to the fourth circuit court of appeals. Keenan's nomination is so non-controversial, that she was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously. But hat one procedural delay will eat up over two days of floor time. It's unclear at this point whether the lost benefits and reimbursements can be retroactively restored.