Pelosi defends deal from Senate Dems

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday defended a bipartisan Medicare deal she helped negotiate with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) against criticism from Senate Democrats.

The deal would permanently change a formula for physician payments under Medicare, ending the need for Congress to pass an annual fix preventing cuts in the payments.

{mosads}“This is what we could get done in the House,” Pelosi told reporters. “I’m very proud of the product, they’ll deal with it when it goes to the Senate, but I salute them for all of the leadership and the fight that they have for all of these issues.”

The upper-chamber Democrats have complained about language in the package that restricts federal funding for abortion. They also want to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for four years instead of two.

Pelosi said she didn’t disagree with “anything” being proposed by Senate Democrats, and that “Congress will work its will.”

But she also made the point that the deal wouldn’t change the status quo, since federal funds are now prohibited from being used to pay for abortions under the Hyde Amendment. 

Pro-abortion rights group Planned Parenthood is opposing the “doc fix” bill and argued in a statement that it would extend barriers to abortion coverage.

“We strongly oppose the House health care funding package because it leaves women’s health out completely and extends barriers to abortion coverage,” Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said in a statement Tuesday.

But abortion rights lawmakers indicated they could support the package.

Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), who co-chair the House Pro-Choice Caucus, noted that the Hyde Amendment provisions will expire at the same time as the funding for CHIP, something secured by Pelosi.

“The language included in the bipartisan compromise does not further restrict women’s access to abortion, and the provisions expire along with funding — just as the current Hyde Amendment does,” they said. “We will be supporting this bipartisan compromise, and we encourage other members of the Pro-Choice Caucus to do the same.”

Asked if that change would satisfy Senate Democrats, Pelosi said, “You’d have to ask them.” She noted it is the same language included in a government-funding bill that passed late last year known as the “cromnibus.”

“It’s really important to note that the language is the language of the cromnibus, that people voted for, and certainly they did in the Senate,” Pelosi said.

“I said to my colleagues this morning, I would leave Congress before I voted for the codification of the Hyde language,” Pelosi added. “That’s not what this bill does.”

Pelosi said she is in favor of extending CHIP longer than two years.

“It’s an issue we’ve all worked on for many years and I’m very pleased that we have the two year extension,” she said. “I wish it could be four. In terms of what they do when they get the bill, you’d have to ask them about that.”

Senate Democrats on the Finance Committee on Saturday issued a statement saying that the emerging deal does not pass their “test.” They cited the two-year CHIP extension, the abortion provision and other items like making wealthier seniors pay a higher share of premiums to help offset the cost of the bill.

Several Senate Democrats said Monday night that they were still waiting for the final language before deciding whether to support it. 

House lawmakers unveiled their deal on Tuesday morning. It is expected to cost around $200 billion over 10 years, with about a third of those costs offset.

There is not much time before the March 31 deadline to avert Medicare payment cuts to doctors. One Republican member of Congress said Tuesday that a short-term bill might be needed, because it will be difficult for the Senate to approve the package before a two-week recess begins Friday given work this week on the budget.

Pelosi said she hoped the House bill could move through the Senate quickly.

“It’s very important with CHIP and community health centers that the states know well in advance what is on the horizon for them, so the sooner the better,” she added.

Boehner praised the package on Tuesday, saying in a statement that it will “put in place the first real, structural entitlement reform in nearly two decades.”

Pelosi expressed confidence that her caucus will support the bill: “We had a very positive caucus this morning.”

“I feel pretty confident we’ll have a good strong vote,” she said.

This story was updated at 3:18 p.m.