Axios summit: Doc fix and Kennedy's health cuts
Rep. Greg Murphy and Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Photo: Axios
Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Rep. Greg Murphy gave a glimpse of what's ahead on reconciliation and the Hill's relationship with the Trump administration at our inaugural Future of Health Summit on Wednesday.
Here are our top takeaways from the interviews.
1. Murphy's "beige line": The congressman indicated that his vote on the reconciliation package hinges on including a full-scale Medicare physician payment fee fix.
- "I've made it very clear to leadership I'm not going to vote on a product that doesn't fix it completely. Sorry, not sorry," he said.
- "I'm not one of these red-line people, but this is my, let's say, beige line.… This needs to get done."
2. Accountability agenda: That's Murphy's characterization of the Republican agenda on health care during Trump 2.0.
- "I think if you have to pick one word with the administration that we've had so far, it's 'accountability.' It's a reset," he said.
- "You look at our nation's history in the last 250 years, we've actually never done [a reset].… If you had to look at our health care system, what are we doing right, what are we doing wrong?"
3. Baldwin on Kennedy: The senator unloaded on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his response to her question at a HELP Committee hearing Wednesday about CDC's inability to help Milwaukee schools that face lead poisoning.
- "When I asked whether the plan is to eliminate this branch of the CDC, he said, 'no' emphatically. Well, how can you have this continue when all the experts have been fired? So it was really horrifying," Baldwin said.
4. ACA subsidy extension: Now is the time to pass an extension of enhanced ACA subsidies, Baldwin said, when asked about a possible bipartisan measure later this year.
- "This is the time to do it," she said, referencing the reconciliation bill. "They should not be kicking it down the road."
