'It Is Not True': John Kennedy Claims Biden's Accusation Against Republicans Is False

a leading philosopher of the last century his name was Jean-Paul sart famously once said that existence precedes essence in other words sorts words not mine to be is to act in other words my words not Mr sarks in other words what you do is what you believe what you do is what you believe not what you say what you do is what you believe and everything else is just cottage cheese I think that is particularly relevant to our government Washington D.C and indeed probably to all forms of government in America we are what we do not what we say as you know Mr President we are in negotiations with respect to the to the debt limit I for one and I think almost all if not all of my colleagues in the Senate will agree with me on this we will not default on America's debt we will not but in conjunction with addressing that issue of the debt limit many of our colleagues in the house and many of my car our colleagues here in the Senate would like to talk to President Biden about what we can do as a Congress and as a president to keep us from getting in this situation again where we have to so radically raise the debt limit in other words the request of the president is Mr President let's sit down and talk about how we can slow the rate of growth in our spending and slow the rate of growth in our debt accumulation for a variety of reasons not only pertaining to the debt limit but also pertaining to trying to get control of inflation and and I hope the president will hope the president will accept that invitation um in those negotiations the president has said incorrectly in my judgment but he has said repeatedly as have some of my Democratic friends that while all the Republicans want to do all the Republicans want to do in this in these negotiations is hurting Medicare and hurt Social Security now I understand politics we both do Mr President we've been doing this for a long time and politically I understand why the president and some of my colleagues are saying that it is not true of course um and and I don't think it's beneficial to these negotiations but but the fact that the president is saying this and saying well you you Republicans want to hurt Medicare for example I find to be quite ironic extraordinarily ironic maybe even a tad hypocritical in Washington D.C you have to watch what people do not what they say in the waning days of the last Congress once again watching what people do not what they say President Biden who has accused members of my party wanting to hurt Medicaid tried to cut or wanting to hurt Medicare tried to cut Medicare himself these Sinners for Medicare and Medicaid services CMS as we call it as you know Mr President every year proposes a what's called a physician's fee schedule for doctors who treat Medicare patients if you're a doctor and you have a Medicare patient you don't get to send the federal government a bill for whatever you think your services are worth that's not the way it works Medicare every year through the center for from centers for Medicare and Medicaid services CMS CMS every year proposes a physician fee schedule they tell the Physicians this is what you can charge and not a penny more President Biden's CMS last year proposed to cut all physician payments all provider payments by four and a half percent he didn't want to lift up Medicare he wanted to cut it not Republicans the president now why is that important well a lot of Physicians won't take Medicare anymore because they say well and they won't take Medicaid either for that Matt they say we just can't we we can't turn a profit we're not looking to make say the Physicians obscene prophets but we've got we're in the middle of inflation Health Care inflation is is as real as anything else we're paying more in rent we're paying more for our for our nurses we're paying more for supplies and the Medicare fees that were paid to treat folks on Medicaid Medicare are not uh they're not keeping up they're just not and so here comes President Biden through his Center centers for Medicare Medicaid services CMS Here Comes President Biden the champion of Medicare he proposed a four and a half percent across the board cut for every physician treating Medicare in America that's 900 000 people in my state so I'm sitting there listening to this hearing the president say all Republicans want to do is hurt Medicare on the left hand but on the right hand he's trying to cut all the Physicians and other providers in the program we have 900 000 people in my state and program about four and a half percent in the middle of raging inflation and I just found that extraordinary watch what people do not what they say so I I've introduced a bill Mr President the name of my bill was protecting Medicare patients and Physicians the protecting Medicare patients and physician Act it would have eliminated it would have eliminated that four to four and a half percent cut that President Biden wanted to impose on Medicare doctors and I came to the body of this Senate to present that bill and I didn't come to my colleagues just with it with a problem I came with a solution I wasn't going to say well let's just don't cut Medicare uh doctors and eliminate the cut I said listen don't eliminate the cut or let's do eliminate the cut but I have a way to pay for it I'm not suggesting that we we reject President Biden's attempt to cut Medicare and fill the hole by borrowing the money I said I've got a solution I found 9.8 billion dollars sitting in a fund at the Department of Health and Human Services it was 9.8 billion when I was able to get the data I suspect at one point it got as high as 15 billion dollars it was called the provider Relief Fund as the president knows this Congress appropriates lots of money to our health care providers to help them deal with with uh covet and not all of the money thankfully was needed many of the health care providers return some of the money and at the time I presented the bill there was 9.8 billion dollars that had been returned and was sitting in an account at the Department of Health and Human Services way more than enough way more than enough to prevent a four percent in some cases four percent plus cut to Medicare that President Biden proposed I went to every one of my Republican colleagues in the Senate they all said we're with you Kennedy let's do it so I came to this floor I came to this floor to ask for unanimous consent and that is you know Mr President is where you present a bill and then nobody objections passed but there was an objection and it came from a good friend and a good man Senator Ron White who's chairman of our finance committee uh there aren't words in English to to express how much I respect Ron Wyden but Senator Wyatt came to the four and he said Kennedy I'm going to object to you Bill and he said I don't want you to worry about this we we're aware of that President Biden has proposed to cut every Medicare physician in America but we're not going to let him do that we're putting together a budget bill right now we call it the Omnibus we're putting together a budget bill right now that's going to address that problem and that's why I'm objecting to your bill your Bill Kennedy is unnecessary now I'm not blaming this on chairman Wyden I'm not the Omnibus past with a vote of I think virtually all if not all of my Democratic colleagues and some Republican colleagues so it is I'm not saying it is Senator wyden's fault but after the Omnibus passed I didn't vote for it in part because I didn't know what was in it but after the Omnibus passed I went back and looked and lo and behold the Omnibus Bill which passed at the encouragement a President Biden and with a lot more votes from my Democratic friends than my Republican colleagues had a two percent cut for every provider every physician that treats a Medicare patient in America two percent cut it's better than a four percent cut but it's still a cut in the time of raging inflation now I don't know yet what that impact is going to be on health care and the health care delivery system in my state I don't know how many more Physicians after President Biden has has cut their fees I don't know how many more Physicians are going to stand up and say I can't take Medicare patients anymore I hope none but I suspect some so I'm going to end like I began oh and let me let me mention this Mr President I mean I talked about the that pool of money the provided relief fund that had 9.8 billion dollars in it maybe 15 billion dollars sitting there in an account unspent unappropriated what happened to it I don't know but it got spent on something but it didn't get spent on helping Medicare doctors and patients they got cut two percent so I'm going to end like I began in this town you have to watch what people do not what they say the president can try to blame the Republicans and say well they don't want to seriously negotiate about controlling spending and controlling debt all they want to do is cut Medicare he already did it he did it in December with that Mr President I yield the floor

Channel: Forbes Breaking News

Views: 674,659

Keywords: Sen. John Kennedy, President Biden, Senate

Id: vobwO-uSLxw

Length: 14min 17sec (857 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 16 2023