Turn on the Pumps Act Killed

By Devin Nunes

Yesterday, House Democrats defeated my effort to force a vote on H.R. 3105 – the Turn on the Pumps Act. The Speaker used a procedural tactic to “table” my appeal for a vote – thus killing consideration of my bill.

It is noteworthy that, despite the claims of bi-partisan support for returning Delta pumping to normal operations, only three Democrats – Rep. Griffith (D-Alabama), Rep. Kratovil (D-MA), and Rep. Minnick (ID) supported my bill on the House Floor. Not a single California Democrat voted in favor of the Turn on the Pumps Act (see how they voted). Meanwhile, communities across the Central Valley face severe water shortages – shortages that are also impacting Southern California.

A video of the floor proceedings can be found on my YouTube Channel by clicking here.

House blocks Rep. Nunes' try for water bill

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives on Thursday dismissed the latest public maneuver by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, to summon attention to the San Joaquin Valley’s water shortage.

By a nearly perfect party line vote of 249-179, the House blocked Nunes from bringing to the floor a bill removing restrictions from Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta pumping plants. The restrictions have been put in place to protect vulnerable species and habitat.
Nunes has been increasingly blunt in his partisan appeals on the water issue, and he noted Thursday that “not a single California Democrat” supported his long-shot parliamentary tactic.

Several committees have previously defeated Nunes in related efforts, either directly or by blocking his request to obtain a House vote.

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Published online on Thursday, Jul. 23, 2009
By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau

Mayo Clinic Says That American People Will Lose Under House Democrats' Government-Run Plan

by DEVIN NUNES

"Although there are some positive provisions in the current House Tri-Committee bill – including insurance for all and payment reform demonstration projects – the proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher-quality, more affordable health care for patients. In fact, it will do the opposite.

"In general, the proposals under discussion are not patient focused or results oriented. Lawmakers have failed to use a fundamental lever – a change in Medicare payment policy – to help drive necessary improvements in American health care. Unless legislators create payment systems that pay for good patient results at reasonable costs, the promise of transformation in American health care will wither. The real losers will be the citizens of the United States."


Read the Mayo Clinic’s reaction to House Tri-Committee bill (click link).

An open letter to the physicians of California: Obama care won't work

by DEVIN NUNES

On July 16th, the American Medical Association endorsed legislation pending before the House of Representatives, H.R. 3200, the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act. As a member of the Health Subcommittee, and author of an alternative comprehensive health care reform bill, I was highly troubled by the AMAs decision. It violated the group’s longstanding commitment to oppose government control over health care and health decisions and may have significant repercussions as Congress moves forward with the reform debate.


There are a number of issues associated with the AMA endorsed legislation that I call to your attention. Firstly, the bill wrongly expands the role of Medicare payment rates by including them in the “public option.” As you are aware, Medicare payments have not kept pace with the cost of delivering care. These payments are on average significantly below private insurance compensation and in many cases represent a fraction of private insurance compensation.

While AMA believes the bill represents progress by updating the Medicare payment system for physicians, the improvements associated with the Sustainable Growth Rate do not resolve current disparities and will come with a productivity adjustment that will significantly impact future payment updates. Furthermore, the price physicians and other providers will pay will be enormous as the public option consumes the private insurance market and federal officials begin to implement coverage decisions that limit the ability of providers to care for their patients.

The Democrat bill also expands Medicaid eligibility, a program with payments worse than Medicare and one that is characterized by access problems and poor health outcomes. This system of second class medicine should not be expanded, it should be replaced. Furthermore, both Medicare and Medicaid are heading toward insolvency – tens of trillions worth of unfunded liabilities according to the Congressional Budget Office. The establishment of a new public program will do nothing to improve the outlook of these programs and will simply pile more debt on future generations.

I also note that government spending limitations associated with “public health plans,” including complex payment policies, have unfairly disadvantaged the Central Valley of California – a problem many local physicians have brought to my attention. Geographic disparities and program definition limitations are perpetuated by the AMA endorsed bill. While aspects of some programs are improved, they remain fundamentally flawed and unsustainable. Indeed, the entire plan is cleverly crafted to hide the full cost outside the 10 year budget window.

Clearly, health care in America is in need of reform. But the premise that we do not spend enough today and that trillions in new spending will be needed defies common sense. We spend more on health care than any other industrialized nation and many are not receiving the fruits of that significant investment. Most Americans understand this fact but Congress is barreling down the road of vastly increasing spending nonetheless. Alternatives, including my bill – the Patients’ Choice Act – are not even being afforded time for debate.

In addition to unjustified spending levels, the AMA endorsed legislation fails on a number of fundamental reform fronts. In an effort to improve the bill, I and other Republicans offered a number of amendments in the Ways and Means Committee. We tried to eliminate the public option. We sought to protect the doctor patient relationship from rationing or coercive reimbursement tactics. And we sought to address medical liability – an urgent issue of national significance. Each of our amendments was defeated along party lines.

In my view, the legislation passed by the House Ways and Means Committee will radically and permanently eviscerate the relationship medical professionals have built with their patients by empowering a government juggernaut to make critical care decisions that currently rest solely where they should: in the hands of doctors and patients. The vast majority of Americans will be subject to government decisions, based on the recommendations of an appointed board, which would define the “covered treatments and items and services within benefit packages.”

The new government plan will also exacerbate provider payment challenges which have served as a major impediment to patient access to appropriate medical treatment. As I have already mentioned, the legislation sets strict government plan reimbursement rates equal to Medicare which are 20 percent below those afforded providers by private plans. An independent research firm estimates that under this reimbursement structure, average physician reimbursements will decline by more than $16,000 annually. This unsustainable structure, according to the study, will raise private health insurance rates by $4,000 and starve medical practices of the necessary resources to provide quality care.

We must reform our health care system to control costs and strive toward universal access to affordable care, but without stripping medical providers of power to decide appropriate courses of treatment or handing the reigns of our health care system to a bureaucratic machine geared toward arbitrary decision making instead of patient well-being. Republicans, including myself, have offered many alternatives. My plan, which is sponsored by Rep. Paul Ryan (WI) and Senators Richard Burr (SC) and Tom Coburn (OK), places the focus where it should be and allows Americans and their health professionals to make the very personal decisions needed to deliver the best health care in our country. Details are available on my website (www.nunes.house.gov/health) and I encourage you to submit your comments or suggested improvements.

At a time when our health care system is facing an acute crisis, we cannot afford to allow haste to compromise our principles. I encourage you to disavow the AMA’s endorsement of this legislation and join me in working to enact health care reform that will serve all Americans.

The Long-Term Budget Outlook

by DOUGLAS W. ELMENDORF

 

From the CBO Director's Blog


Under current law, the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, because federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run. Although great uncertainty surrounds long-term fiscal projections, rising costs for health care and the aging of the population will cause federal spending to increase rapidly under any plausible scenario for current law. Unless revenues increase just as rapidly, the rise in spending will produce growing budget deficits. Large budget deficits would reduce national saving, leading to more borrowing from abroad and less domestic investment, which in turn would depress economic growth in the United States. Over time, accumulating debt would cause substantial harm to the economy. The following chart shows our projection of federal debt relative to GDP under the two scenarios we modeled.

(Below) Federal Debt Held by the Public Under CBO’s Long-Term Budget Scenarios (Percentage of GDP)

Read the Congressional Budget Office Director's complete prognosis of our nation's current and future budget challenges by clicking here.

Lawmakers get testy in water debate

WASHINGTON — Sharp partisan conflict now divides the once-united San Joaquin Valley lawmakers who are seeking solutions to the region's water shortage.

The simmering conflict boiled over Tuesday as two Valley Democrats blasted Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of Visalia for "grandstanding" in zealously pursuing water-delivery amendments. Nunes, in turn, asserted that his valley colleagues were "mesmerized" by liberal environmentalists.

"This is baloney, to be doing this sort of thing," Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, said of Nunes' approach. "I have had a number of my colleagues tell me they are fed up with it."

Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, added that Nunes has been "not helpful" with repeated water-related amendments that Costa characterized as grandstanding.

Last week, Nunes had been invited to meet with Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes and House Democrats to discuss Western issues. Nunes said Tuesday that he was "disinvited" to the meeting as a result of Democratic displeasure over his sharp-tongued rhetoric that often targets House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and what he invariably calls "radical environmentalists."

Nunes insisted he remains "friends" with Cardoza and Costa, even as he dismissed their water-related efforts as inadequate.

"My friends have been mesmerized," Nunes said Tuesday. "It's like they're under a spell of some kind. I hope they get their sea legs under them again and return to reality."

Hot-button issue

Drought dominates the thinking of all three House members, as well as other lawmakers representing the San Joaquin Valley. Low precipitation along with judicial and regulatory decisions designed to protect endangered species and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta have combined to slash irrigation water deliveries.

Nunes has attacked the problem by writing amendments that would cut off funding for some environmental decisions. One amendment would have blocked a National Marine Fisheries Service decision that cuts delta water deliveries by as much as 7 percent to protect endangered Chinook salmon and steelhead.

The House rejected Nunes' original water-delivery amendment last month by a 208-218 margin. He has since tried several times to offer similar amendments, and has either been defeated or denied the chance to bring the amendment to the House floor.

On Tuesday, Cardoza and other Democrats on the House Rules Committee rejected Nunes' latest bid to offer three water-related amendments to a fiscal 2010 energy and water funding bill.

Instead, the rules panel permitted Costa and Cardoza to offer their own amendments when the House takes up the energy and water bill.