"NO" on Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act (H.R. 5613)

The Club for Growth urges Members of the House to vote "NO" on the Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act (H.R. 5613), which is expected to be voted on today under suspension. This key vote will be scored on the Club for Growth's 2008 Congressional Scorecard.

The bill would prevent the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from implementing rules that would cut down on fraud and abuse, and would also close loopholes used by the states to inappropriately extract more matching dollars from the federal government.

Over the long run, this bill would cost billions of dollars and would unwind a lot of the cost savings made in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2006. We also object to this bill being considered under suspension of the rules. Instead, this bill deserves extensive debate and should be amendable. The White House has threatened a veto on this bill, stating that preventing the regulations from being implemented would cost too much and would threaten the fiscal integrity of Medicaid.

Update: House Vote 209 on the bill.