WASHINGTON — Today, Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL) issued the following statement on the Department of Justice’s announcement that it would not move forward with a criminal-contempt prosecution of Lois Lerner, the former head of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations Division: "Today's announcement surprises no one. It has long been clear that this… Read more

Trade-deal doomsayers are raising a stink about one of the more mundane procedures of trade law: the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). These critics are determined to torpedo job-creating trade agreements, and they’re leaving no hyperbole behind. The way they tell it, ISDS panels are corporate shills that gut public-safety regulations and undermine U.S. sovereignty. Do they have… Read more

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives today voted to permanently fix the broken Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. The bipartisan plan fixes the long-standing problem of how doctors get paid for treating the 53 million Americans who depend on Medicare. “Congress has averted a continuation of a national health-care crisis,” said Ways and Means Health Subcommittee… Read more

WASHINGTON — Upon passage of H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) issued the following statement: "This is a firm step toward patient-centered health care. After years of manufactured crises, this bill will give doctors the certainty they need and seniors the security they deserve. We have a lot more work to do to save… Read more

Expanding and deepening trade relationships produces stronger national security. That was the message today from newly confirmed Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. And he's calling for a "full-court press" to advance American trade with other nations.  Speaking at the Global Chiefs of Mission Conference in Washington, Secretary Carter noted that "by… Read more

​Last week, the Ways and Means Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee heard from family businesses and farmers struggling to pay or simply plan for the death tax. This hearing highlighted real people who work hard and save for their whole lives so they can pass on their family farms or businesses to loved ones. But these very people face overwhelming burdens thanks to death… Read more

Washington Examiner op-ed   Medicare is going broke, but this week we have a chance to start fixing it. And we can do it—with bipartisan support—by repealing a clumsy payment system that has threatened seniors' access to care and vexed Congress for nearly two decades. Here's the problem: In 1997, Congress tried to put a lid on Medicare's costs by capping doctor payments with a… Read more

WASHINGTON — Bipartisan leaders of the House Energy and Commerce and House Ways and Means Committees today introduced H.R. 2, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, to permanently replace Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). The agreement builds upon H.R. 1470, the SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation to… Read more

WASHINGTON — Today, Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Peter Roskam (R-IL) delivered the following opening statement during a hearing on the federal government’s use of data analysis—particularly the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Fraud Prevention System (FPS)—to identify emerging trends and stop Medicare fraud. "Welcome, everyone, to our second hearing. The… Read more

This week, the House has an opportunity to finally move beyond one of the more problematic policy issues of this century: the sustainable growth rate (SGR). This flawed Medicare formula, which regularly threatens huge cuts to reimbursements for seniors' care, has borne a cycle of funding crises and short-term fixes since 2003. It has also created instability for seniors and devoured… Read more