Bipartisan Amendments Passed in Committee Removed from Pelosi Health Bill
Congressional Desk
November 04, 2009
Washington– H.R. 3962, Speaker Pelosi´s healthcare reform bill, removes important amendments passed in the House Energy and Commerce Committee on which Rep. Joe Pitts (PA-16) serves.
With the bill set to be considered on the House floor this week, Speaker Pelosi has indicated that there will be few, if any, opportunities to amend the legislation. While she claims that this is because three House committees already had an opportunity to amend the bill, important amendments to keep government from coming between patients and doctors were removed during the closed door meetings that created H.R. 3962.
Among at least ten amendments removed or gutted was one measure to prevent the newly created Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research from being used to ration care. Another amendment would have prevented the CCER from dictating to doctors what type of treatments they can offer. Both amendments were adopted in committee by voice vote, indicating that they had very strong bipartisan support.
Rep. Pitts´ statement follows:
"Speaker Pelosi´s healthcare bill has gutted amendments that had strong bipartisan support when the Energy and Commerce Committee considered healthcare reform. Both Republicans and Democrats agreed that we need strong amendments to prevent government bureaucrats from coming between patients and doctors.
"Unfortunately, the Speaker has ignored the actions of the committee and tossed out these amendments during closed door negotiations. Now, we will have almost no opportunity to put these protections back in the bill. Under this bill, we are setting up structures that will lead our nation down the path toward government-rationed healthcare."
With the bill set to be considered on the House floor this week, Speaker Pelosi has indicated that there will be few, if any, opportunities to amend the legislation. While she claims that this is because three House committees already had an opportunity to amend the bill, important amendments to keep government from coming between patients and doctors were removed during the closed door meetings that created H.R. 3962.
Among at least ten amendments removed or gutted was one measure to prevent the newly created Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research from being used to ration care. Another amendment would have prevented the CCER from dictating to doctors what type of treatments they can offer. Both amendments were adopted in committee by voice vote, indicating that they had very strong bipartisan support.
Rep. Pitts´ statement follows:
"Speaker Pelosi´s healthcare bill has gutted amendments that had strong bipartisan support when the Energy and Commerce Committee considered healthcare reform. Both Republicans and Democrats agreed that we need strong amendments to prevent government bureaucrats from coming between patients and doctors.
"Unfortunately, the Speaker has ignored the actions of the committee and tossed out these amendments during closed door negotiations. Now, we will have almost no opportunity to put these protections back in the bill. Under this bill, we are setting up structures that will lead our nation down the path toward government-rationed healthcare."
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