Congress listens to senior, overrides Bush

On June 24, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass H.R. 6331, the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. I cast my vote in favor of this bill alongside my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and I am proud that this important piece of legislation passed the House with a final vote of 355-59. While this bill initially stalled in the Senate, leadership in the upper house, aided by the courageous walk into the chamber by ailing Senator Edward Kennedy, worked hard to get this bill passed. His emotional interruption of his brain cancer therapy to return to the Senate to vote on this legislation is a powerful testament to his iron will and dedication to seniors.

However, let me be very clear, preventing these Medicare cuts wasn’t solely a Democratic issue nor was it a Republican issue. This was a simple, but significant issue of protecting and preserving the health care that over 44 million seniors count on, depend on, and deserve.

 This essential piece of legislation prevents a 10.6 percent payment cut for physicians who treat Medicare and TRICARE patients. The bill also works to improve our health care system by providing incentives for doctors who report on quality improvement measurements, and for doctors who make greater use of electronic prescribing technology. This bill puts a one year moratorium on the contentious competitive bidding program that requires durable medical equipment suppliers to compete for contracts. Had this cut gone into effect, many physicians across the country would no longer be able to afford to take Medicare patients. Without access to medical providers, seniors and military families would have been prevented from seeking medical treatment.

I am extremely proud to stand with seniors, health care providers, military families and those who are disabled in Missouri’s Fifth District. In an often dysfunctional and dissentious Congress, it is refreshing when it came to protecting and preserving health care for those who need it most, we were able to pigeon hole party politics, and solve a knotty problem.

Despite overwhelming support in Congress and among the American people, the President chose to veto this legislation. Instead of working to protect seniors and service members across the nation, the President unfortunately made the misguided choice to deny them one of our most basic needs, access to quality health care services. Frankly, I have no idea why he would choose this fight — a fight that will hurt many of our most vulnerable, including my 86-year-old father who never earned more than $25,000 a year and now pays over $300 a month for health insurance.

By vetoing H.R. 6331, the President ignored the voices of health care providers and members of his own party, and chose to again side with big business and the insurance industry. At a time when this country is struggling with the mortgage crisis and outrageous gas prices, it was foolish of our President to heap one more cost on the plate of those least able to afford to pay the tab.

The same day the President exercised his prerogative and power to veto this legislation, we used the authority granted Congress by the Constitution to override his veto in both chambers and protect our seniors without his signature.

With almost one million Missouri residents enrolled in the Medicare program, I am extremely proud that Congress was able to override the President’s veto. I am committed to helping those I am honored to serve find reliable health care, and I will continue to work across the aisle to bring common sense relief to American families.  This override vote represented a victory for our nation’s seniors, and I can only hope that in the future our President takes heed, and listens to the voices of his constituents. 

To those of you who called, e-mailed, and wrote letters expressing your desire for me to support H.R. 6331, this is proof that your opinion matters.  Thank you.



Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Belton, Raymore and Peculiar, Missouri. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee and the Speaker’s Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Congressman Cleaver also serves as a Regional Whip of the Democratic Caucus and Second Vice-Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.