At today's House Rules Committee hearing, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) questioned fellow lawmakers about the Republican budget resolution.
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00:00Thank you so very much, Madam Chair, for recognizing me.
00:06And I just also want to point out that with regards to the Rules Committee and the manner in which this is a place where we actually do get to debate the issues and the bills that will be going to the House floor.
00:24And Chair Arrington, I really appreciate your embrace of that debate, your willingness to engage in the back and forth, which does take time.
00:33And in this Rules Committee, I believe, although I've only sat here two terms, that there has been a strong practice and precedent of allowing the debate to go on, whether it's five minutes, ten minutes, or Chairwoman Fox.
00:49I understand that you actually debated a bill on the Rules Committee for nearly an hour on the Affordable Care Act for 45 minutes on the budget reconciliation.
01:02So this practice of having the debate, I think, is really welcome.
01:07And thank you, Chair Arrington, for doing that and embracing that practice.
01:12And one of the questions that I wanted to ask you was, you said that a strong economy would be about 1.2% GDP growth over two years.
01:24Did I remember that correctly?
01:25I think that is what you said.
01:27I said President Trump, in two years of his economic agenda, along with unified Republican leadership, took an economy that was 1.8, I think, percent GDP to 2.8 in two years.
01:43And reducing the tax burden was a big part of that.
01:47But there were other components.
01:49What I heard was that you thought over a two-year period of 1.2, but even that, that was a growth, would you think that, given that, would you believe that a 3.2% GDP growth rate would be a strong economy?
02:07Well, after eight years of President Obama and leaving the economy at 1.8, almost anything above that is an improvement.
02:14It would be a good, strong economy based on what you've just described.
02:20Historically, over the last 50 years, we've been at 3%.
02:23The last couple of decades, we've struggled.
02:25So 3.2, the question is whether 3.2, because indeed-
02:28Of course, 5 would be better than 3.2.
02:30Well, we haven't gotten 5 in a long time, right?
02:32And 10 better than 5.
02:33We did get 3.2%.
02:35Under Biden, we got a 2.3 in 23 and 24.
02:38So we have, I think what's interesting is to say, depending on who is the president, there seems to be a shift on what are strong economies.
02:48But what we're here today to talk about-
02:50It's amazing what inflation can do to your economy.
02:52It's amazing.
02:52It's amazing what we're talking about with regards to inflation, because that goes to exactly the issue that I think we're concerned about as Democrats,
03:02is that we need to address the cost of living crisis for middle and working families.
03:07And right now, the tariffs do the opposite, that we have not seen anything in this committee that I think really addresses that cost of living crisis.
03:18The tariffs are going through the roof in terms of what it's going to mean for us.
03:23And these budget tax cuts, they are going to give tax cuts to the richest billionaires, and they're going to be paid for by hungry children, pregnant moms, and the elderly in nursing homes.
03:34And it is indeed a moral moment, because if we cut, as the budget resolution says, where it has all those reds, right, all the little reds sort of cut by $880 billion here, cut by $330 billion here.
03:50There are cuts to education, small businesses, clean energy, infrastructure, and the biggest benefits are going to go to cast cuts for the rich.
04:01That's why I think it's really important that Americans know what's going to happen in your district.
04:08And Representative Boyle, I am very appreciative of your Democrats-Budget.House.gov, because what you've done in this document is list out how many Medicaid beneficiaries are in each person's district,
04:28who's going to get the benefit of the tax cuts in the district, what are the education cuts going to look like in the districts.
04:38And I think that making sure Americans actually see the numbers and not just the rhetoric is important.
04:46Why did you actually put this document together?
04:49Well, first, I'm just so glad to finally get a question.
04:52Chairman Arrington's been having all the fun by himself.
04:56But, yes, again, it's Democrats-Budget.House.gov.
05:02Our Budget Committee staff worked incredibly hard to create this tool that everyone can use,
05:08whether members, staff, or the millions and millions who are no doubt watching us on C-SPAN.
05:14You can tune in to that website and use that tool, because everyone should be aware of what the real-world impacts will be if this were to become law.
05:24Well, thank you very much for doing that.
05:27And, Chair Arrington, I want to go back to the issue of where the disagreements are within the Republicans right now
05:33about whether we should move this budget resolution forward.
05:38And I'm not going to go into those who called it in serious, but what I'm understanding is that there are a lot of Republicans who are opposed
05:49because they want budget cuts and even maybe more budget cuts than what the Senate has sent over.
05:57Am I understanding that correctly?
05:58That's where the potential no-votes are going to come if they're not convinced otherwise.
06:06Fiscal conservatives concerned about the massive deficits and the wartime-level debts
06:14would like to see enforceable spending reduction where we have literally trillions of dollars
06:22in waste, fraud, and unnecessary spending by the people's government.
06:28They trust binding targets more than these institutions of ours that have repeatedly,
06:38under both Democrat and Republican leadership, repeatedly failed our country and our children.
06:44So, basically, they want bigger tax cuts.
06:49I mean, they want bigger program cuts and enforceable program cuts.
06:52Enforceable.
06:53I have not seen anybody say they are going to vote no on the Republican side
06:58because they don't see anything in here to protect Medicaid.
07:03And, you know, in the Senate, in the Senate, we actually had Republican senators who wanted
07:13to protect Medicaid.
07:14There were three Republican senators who voted on a bipartisan amendment to actually explicitly
07:25say they were going to protect Medicaid.
07:29Now, that would be wonderful if we would see four Republicans from the House willing to stand up
07:40and say we will vote no unless we have an explicit protection for Medicaid because it's not enough
07:47to say, oh, that's, it's a scare tactic because we have the CBO letters and reports that say the only way
07:57you get to that number is by cutting Medicaid.
08:01And what's interesting is...
08:03By cutting Medicaid, just for clarity, just for clarity,
08:05by cutting Medicaid, because you keep using, and I've heard it from other colleagues of yours,
08:11by cutting Medicaid, are you saying by cutting people who are cutting the spending to people
08:18who are ineligible, are you talking about cutting the payments to illegal immigrants?
08:24Are you, which, what are you, or are you referring to cutting benefits for citizens of the country?
08:29You're talking about $880 billion worth of cuts to Medicaid, and maybe I'll ask, I would point out,
08:38and Madam Chair, I'd like to enter into the record, the CMS report, where they actually talk about
08:44improper payments, their improper payments factory, so this is coming from CMS, Madam Chair,
08:50where I'd like unanimous consent to...
08:52Without objection...
08:54So in this report, they actually do say that there are improper payments.
09:00It's about 5.09%.
09:02But this is what they state, and it's very similar to what Representative Boyle put in,
09:08is of the 2024 Medicaid improper payments, almost 80%, 79.11%, were the result of insufficient documentation.
09:17And they go out of their way to say, these payments typically involve situations for a state or provider
09:25missed an admitted state of step.
09:28They do not indicate fraud or race.
09:31Representative Boyle, what do you have to say to this claim that they're not going to cut services,
09:36it's just fraud and abuse and race?
09:38Well, both you and I now separately have quoted directly from the GAO report in order to refute the idea
09:47that this is all waste, fraud, and abuse, where there's $500 billion over 10 years.
09:54It's just not so, and GAO made that clear.
09:57I mean, just so everyone can have the full picture, $880 billion of Medicaid cuts.
10:05About $8 trillion a year is spent by the federal government on Medicaid.
10:10So $880 billion worth of cuts would be about an 11% cut to the program.
10:16To act like and pretend like there wouldn't be benefit cuts, if you're making an 11% cut, $880 billion worth at least,
10:29which is in the House version, it's just not so.
10:32There clearly would be benefit cuts.
10:37So we should be just honest with people and recognize that there will be a real-world impact.
10:44I had an event on Monday morning in my district with Catholic Health Services as well as Esperanza in North Philadelphia.
10:53They were talking about the noble work that they do, and one of the women speaking, and this is part of her ministry,
11:01she was almost in tears and getting choked up about the people who will be impacted if this bill becomes law and these Medicaid cuts happen.
11:10And that's consistent with the meetings I've had in my district.
11:13It's consistent with the town halls we've had.
11:15It's consistent with meetings at nursing homes, with federally qualified health clinics, the American Hospital Association.
11:26There is everybody who actually provides services and looks at these cuts,
11:31and they're the ones who are on the ground doing this work,
11:34are saying it's going to potentially shut down rural health clinics, and it's going to really hurt.
11:40And I agree that we should always do better, right?
11:45If there is a 1% foreign abuse, which is a lot less than what they're talking about, we should work on that, right?
11:54But if Medicaid were a patient and it came to the Republicans to get health care for a cold,
12:01Republicans sort of, what they would do, it's like, I'm here for a cold, I'm Medicaid, I'm here for a cold.
12:07How do I fix this?
12:08Republicans would cut off your limbs and let you bleed to death.
12:12I mean, they're going to so harm Medicaid that it would be awful.
12:15And I need to say, Representative Boyle, in one of my meetings at one of our health clinics, a mother came.
12:26Her son is a hemophilia.
12:30He will bleed to death from just getting a scratch when he is playing in the playground.
12:38Medicaid pays for his medication, which keeps him alive.
12:44There were tears in her eyes as she worried about his future.
12:51We had, Democrats held a hearing about the Medicaid cuts, and there were tears in the audience's eyes
13:01as we listened across from administrators, from hospitals, from health clinics,
13:09and then from the parents of the children who rely on Medicaid to keep them alive.
13:18And so it is something that we should worry about, and it is something worth fighting about,
13:24and it is not fear-mongering.
13:27It is fear of the harm that will be done to these families.
13:35And so thank you for being willing to fight for this, and for being willing to point out what will happen.
13:43Because Republicans need to listen to the fact that their own voters don't want this to happen.
13:50Republicans' pollster, Trump's pollster, has reported that a majority of Trump voters, Republican voters,
14:01are against Medicaid cuts.
14:03Two-thirds of swing voters are against Medicaid cuts.
14:07And what Fabrizio Ward said is it's because 40% of the people, their families utilize it.
14:14It is a working family health insurance program.
14:19And on here, you could go see in Shrikert's district, all the people that will be hurt,
14:25and Don Bacon, who's talking against this, but I don't see him voting against it,
14:30even though so many of his people will be hurt.
14:32Next door to me in Colorado 8th, that district, the number of people that will be hurt,
14:39I mean, across the board, people will be hurt.
14:42And people in rural districts will be hurt more than others, like my district,
14:48where 75% of the women giving birth use Medicaid for their health insurance.
14:56So it is something to fight for.
14:58And with that, I yield back, my dear.
15:00Oh, wait a minute.
15:01Do you want some time?
15:02I think it's not, I think it's not.
15:32That's the new rule in the committee.
15:34I think 15 minutes gets it.
15:37Okay.
15:37And it's, I'm especially...
15:40Just for the record, that's the new rule.
15:42And when Democrats are in the majority, I hope Chairman McGovern intends to enforce it,
15:46because for decades...
15:48It's not the new rule.
15:48The chair of this committee has never, never shut down debate.
15:52And the chairwoman spoke for hours, 45 minutes on one occasion, an hour on another occasion.
15:58In this committee, we have the dates.
16:01And because I want to talk for 17 minutes, I want an extra two minutes to ask the chairman a question.
16:06But that's fine.
16:06Again, another precedent broken.
16:09So I'm happy to yield back.
16:09I think, Madam Chair, it's part of the debate that we are in.
16:12I will tell...
16:13I want to say something.
16:15I would be much more tolerant of what you are saying if you weren't distorting what this resolution does.
16:31And I want to tell you, I believe we are held accountable long term for scaring people for something that is not in this bill.
16:46So, Madam Chair, because I think I still do have time, still hold the floor,
16:52but I think that this is exactly the reason why we needed this bill.
16:56You have a version and a perspective on this bill, which you and your nine Republicans on the committee can debate and can raise and can ask the questions.
17:06We have a different perspective and viewpoint on the bill, which we want to raise.
17:11And so it's precisely because we have differing viewpoints.
17:16And I respect that your viewpoint is one.
17:18And so my role on behalf of my constituents is to bring our perspective.
17:25Yours is to bring yours.
17:26Well, if we agreed...
17:27Ms. Leisure Fernandez, if you could go into this resolution and say,
17:34specifically, you're cutting, as the chairman said,
17:40you cannot show that specific people are going to be hurt.
17:46Specific people are going to be hurt.
17:47You know, we could stay here all day and debate.
17:53I don't think it's a good use of our time.
17:57And we do are taking time.
18:01We're taking...
18:03We're making a record of the time so that we can show how much time is used by each side,
18:09even though you are in the minority.
18:12And, of course, elections have consequences, as President Obama told us a long time ago.
18:19So, I think it's past time for us to move on to the next witness.
18:25I mean, to the next member.
18:27I just had a question how Mr. Roy feels about this and Mr. Norman,
18:30because they have rarely been constrained by five minutes or ten minutes or 25 minutes or an hour.
18:36It's not your time, Ms. Cameron.
18:38It's not your time to ask a question.
18:41So, and I...
18:43What?
18:44Nothing.
18:44I'm just clarifying that, yeah.
18:45So, we...
18:46So, I'm not able to...
18:47You're not going to recognize Ms. Ledger-Fernandez yielding me for a few minutes
18:50to ask the Chairman Aaron to the question.
18:54I'll recognize Ms. Ledger-Fernandez to continue to ask a question.
18:59But fairly soon, again, I think we need to move on.
19:03Can you tell me what the question you were going to ask of, Representative...
19:06Yeah, I don't understand.
19:07You're saying I should give her the question so she can ask it?
19:09I mean, it'd be a lot easier if you just let him ask the question.
19:12Are you yielding to Mr....
19:13I am yielding to...
19:14All right, Mr. Neguse, ask your question.
19:17Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
19:18I thank the Chairman, and I thank my colleague from New Mexico.
19:21Chairman Arrington, I just want to drill down a bit on the last comments that Ms. Ledger-Fernandez made,
19:27and obviously we've had a lot of debate today about Medicaid.
19:31And I take it your position is one you've already articulated,
19:35that you concur with some of your colleagues on the other side of the aisle
19:38who have claimed that there would be no cuts to Medicaid benefits, right?
19:43That's essentially your position?
19:44Yeah.
19:45Okay.
19:46You're familiar with an amendment that was offered in the Senate to this particular resolution
19:52that was supported by three Republican senators, Senator Hawley, Senator Murkowski, and Senator Collins,
19:57to protect Medicaid?
19:59Are you generally familiar?
20:00Generally, yes, I am.
20:01I don't know the language specifically.
20:03And you understand that amendment failed?
20:06Yes, I do.
20:07I can represent to you.
20:08Yeah, yeah.
20:08Republicans voted against it, with the exception of those three Republicans and all Senate Democrats.
20:14If you have no intention of putting Medicaid, then why not agree to the language protecting Medicaid?
20:21Seems like it would be pretty non-controversial.
20:23Well, to be very frank, it's because, and you're a friend.
20:29Sure.
20:29And she's my neighbor.
20:31But because you all have already in this hearing, and for weeks if not months prior to,
20:41you will continue to mischaracterize making that program run more efficiently, rooting out waste
20:50and fraud, structuring the program to actually support the most vulnerable as a cut.
20:58And there's just, I mean, this hearing is a great example of why there's a breakdown in trust,
21:06because Ms. Fernandez just talked about the limbs of our citizens being torn off of their bodies
21:13and Republicans watching them bleed out.
21:16That is a gross mischaracterization, I think you would agree, of what our intentions are.
21:23But that's the reason why we don't play these games about...
21:26All I'm suggesting to you is Senator Hawley and Senator Murkowski,
21:30these are Republican senators, they're not Democrats, have some pretty simple language.
21:33Yeah, was it Medicaid benefits, or was it Medicaid...
21:36That's what I'm asking.
21:37No, I don't know.
21:38Benefits.
21:38I'm saying you have...
21:40We've committed to that.
21:41We have committed to no cuts.
21:44We're accountable for what we commit to and promise and follow through.
21:48This is my point.
21:49Why, you know, you make much of the instructions that you've designed.
21:54Give me a moment here.
21:56And the various ways in which you believe the budget ought to be structured.
22:00And it just strikes me that the one, quote-unquote, promise that you feel really passionate about today,
22:08about with respect to Medicaid benefits, happens to be conveniently the one promise
22:12that Republicans refuse to put in the text of the instructions.
22:15Why not?
22:16It would be pretty simple.
22:18You could tell the American public, look, we've got it.
22:20No cuts to Medicaid.
22:22It's in the text.
22:22I can tell you.
22:23You all won't do it.
22:24I can tell you, let me just finish the thought process here, because my friends and colleagues
22:32who happen to be Democrats will pervert, twist, contort, and anything we say on Medicaid
22:46or any other government entitlement program to serve the purpose, the political purposes,
22:54of using it as a cudgel to beat on our party, our colleagues,
22:59when in fact it is simply addressing, like I've said before, the inefficiencies of program integrity.
23:08I hear you.
23:08I agree.
23:09I would just say, and I hear your criticism, but my point is-
23:12And I watched it on display today.
23:14You all have been very crystal clear about a lot in this bill.
23:17Yeah.
23:18Right?
23:18And my simple point is this notion that you won't put in the bill that you're not going
23:25to gut Medicaid because you believe that if you do so, Democrats will criticize the bill
23:33as gutting Medicaid.
23:34And so therefore, you've made a decision-
23:36You will.
23:36To not put-
23:37No, I understand.
23:37I don't mean you, but if we do, like I mentioned to Mr. McGovern, look at the Medicaid
23:42rolls twice instead of-
23:43I hear you, Mr. Chairman, but I wasn't finished.
23:44I'm just simply suggesting it's a lot simpler if you feel so passionately about not cutting
23:50Medicaid benefits to put that in the bill.
23:52Yeah.
23:52So-
23:53One question, and I think it's time.
23:55Thank you, and I will finish with this, Chairman.
24:01Excuse me, Madam Chair, you know, this is the Rules Committee, and we have a custom here
24:06of allowing for debate.
24:07I have heard this before.
24:08And we are now dealing in an emergency rules meeting on a budget that, quite frankly, we
24:16think has devastating impacts for the people we represent.
24:19And if we're not going to be able to have a thorough debate and be able to say what's
24:24going on in our mind, then I think we should move to adjourn.
24:31I move to adjourn.
24:34Let's- will the clerk call the roll?
24:45The question is on the motion to adjourn.
25:00All those in favor, say aye.
25:02Aye.
25:03All those opposed, no.
25:05No.
25:06That's for a roll call.
25:08Mr. McGovern has asked for a roll call vote, the clerk will call the roll.
25:12Mrs. Fischbach.
25:13No.
25:14Mr. Norman.
25:15No.
25:16Mr. Norman, no.
25:17Mr. Roy.
25:18No.
25:19Mr. Roy, no.
25:20Mrs. Houchen.
25:21Mr. Langworthy.
25:22No.
25:23Mr. Scott.
25:24No.
25:25Mr. Scott, no.
25:26Mr. Griffith.
25:27Mr. Griffith, no.
25:28Mr. Jack.
25:29No.
25:30Mr. Jack, no.
25:31Mr. McGovern.
25:32Aye.
25:33Mr. McGovern, aye.
25:34Ms. Scanlon, aye.
25:35Mr. Neguse.
25:36Aye.
25:37Mr. Neguse, aye.
25:38Ms. Legger Fernandez, aye.
25:39Madam Chair.
25:40No.
25:41Madam Chair, no.
25:42The clerk will announce the total.
25:43Four yays, eight nays.
25:44The amendment is not agreed to.
25:45The motion to adjourn is not agreed to.
25:46Madam Chair, I believe I had the floor and I will finish up.
25:47I'm sorry, Ms.
25:48I believe I had the floor and I will.
25:49The ranking member, you yield back to me.
25:50So, I just want to say, Chairman.
25:52Chairman Arrington, that I don't think you've heard anybody say today that we are
25:57against cutting fraud or abuse or making things more efficient.
26:00We are very optimistic about the
26:11ruling administration.
26:13The court, the court, are we going to get it?
26:15You're welcome.
26:16I'm hearing that, I just want to say, Chairman Arrington, that I don't think
26:19you've heard anybody say today that we are against cutting fraud or abuse or
26:23making things more efficient.
26:26We are very in favor of making things efficient.
26:29We are against cutting the services
26:32that my neighbors across the border rely on
26:37that I know you care about my New Mexico citizens.
26:41It's a region, it's separated by a border,
26:45but not by values, I believe.
26:48So that's why we will be asking
26:51for protections for Medicaid services.
26:56We are not against improving CMS,
26:59we are not against improving efficiency,
27:02but we do want very specific protections.
27:06We'd love to get four Republicans
27:09doing what the three Republicans did in the Senate,
27:12which is say, just that thing,
27:14we will protect Medicaid services.
27:17We'd love to get four Republicans saying,
27:19we want to vote on Trump's tariffs.
27:21If you're for the tariffs, you're for the tariffs.
27:23If you're not, you're not.
27:24Let people vote on it.
27:26We'd love to move these things to the floor of the House,
27:29where we could have those continued debates
27:32on the floor of the House to let people vote for them.
27:35But it is about the services,
27:37and it's about the people who we meet with every day
27:39that we care about.
27:41And that's why we're doing that.
27:43I can tell you that's why I'm doing that,
27:44not to beat up just non-Republicans.
27:47I'm a very bipartisan person.
27:50You know, rules is differently,
27:51but most of my bills are bipartisan.
27:53I have a lot of Republicans in my district.
27:57I'm a D3 district of black.
27:58It's a very bipartisan district.
28:00I work in a very bipartisan manner.
28:02So I can assure you that it's not,
28:04it's to beat up on the policy, not on your part.
28:07Sure.
28:08May I respond?
28:09Sure.
28:10Cutting waste in all of its forms should be bipartisan.
28:17Mm-hmm.
28:18But when you all were running your partisan reconciliation bill
28:23called the Inflation Reduction Act,
28:27I didn't hear one single recommendation.
28:30I hear you want to save.
28:32You say, if you can find it, I'm with you.
28:34We're all for that.
28:34We're all for that.
28:36But I didn't see anything in the Inflation Reduction Act
28:39that talked about program integrity,
28:41rooting out waste and fraud,
28:43not one jot or tittle in that huge tax and spending bill.
28:50I also, by the way, after listening to the,
28:54what I think is false and empty rhetoric on taxing the rich,
29:00how much did y'all raise the taxes on the rich when you passed the IRA?
29:06What did you do for the top, for the billionaires?
29:08Did y'all raise their taxes to pay for the price fixing on drugs or any of the other thing?
29:14Did y'all raise taxes on the rich?
29:17What did you do with the time?
29:18If y'all feel so strongly about this,
29:21where was the waste, fraud, and abuse reforms in the IRA,
29:25and where were the tax hikes on the rich?
29:30That's why I find this to not be as credible of a debate as I would like it to be.
29:35I certainly think there's sincerely held views that differ.
29:40But when I'm hearing about limbs being ripped off and people bleeding out,
29:44and I hear, we all care about waste, but y'all never put any provision that deals with the waste.
29:51You expand the IRS by 80 billion agents and, but anyway, I digress.
29:57I just, I hear a lot of lip service, a consensus around waste, but I see no action.
30:06And then when we try to take action, we are met with the same old scare tactics
30:12about people's limbs being ripped off, and I just, it's unfortunate, but I'm undeterred.
30:17I mean, and I think my colleagues are too, just completely,
30:20because we do have Medicaid beneficiaries in our district,
30:24and we want to fight to preserve for our vulnerable Americans this important program that they rely on,
30:31and to ensure that it persists into the future for future struggling and working people that need it.
30:39But, but we also have a lot of taxpayers in our district, you and I do.
30:43We share a border, but like you said, we don't share, we share a border, but we have similar values.
30:49My folks and your folks in eastern New Mexico want us to be stewards of tax, of their hard-earned tax dollars.
30:57And for us to not talk about waste and not try to right-size the bloat in this people's government would be a huge missed opportunity.
31:07And we miss that opportunity regularly because we hear the bylines and the mischaracterizations about what you just said,
31:17and they're not true, and we end up just perpetuating this massive, massively inefficient government
31:26at the expense of taxpayers who are paying the freight on all of it. That's unfortunate.
31:30Thank you. And as we note that, I think it was very appropriate for you to speak as long as you wanted on this issue.
31:36So it's oftentimes that it's not, we were speaking, we were giving our, our witnesses the time to explain their position.
31:43I appreciate that.
31:44I would say that we did receive over a billion dollars out of the IRA in tax revenue because of the audits going against fraud and abuse of those.
31:57So that's something that we were doing. So I think we have done.
32:00And I would also point out that in the document that I entered into the record, the Medicaid improper payment rate actually went down from 8.58% in 23 to 5.09% in 24.
32:16So there is actually documentation of an effort to increase the efficiency.
32:21And once again, this is improper payment, which is not fraud and abuse, but even that we need to make things more efficient.
32:27I would love it if we cut out some of the, you know, regulatory overburden so it was easier for people to get paid for the patient care that they get.
32:36Because the other thing we know is Medicare is one of the cheapest, right?
32:43Providers don't get, Medicaid is one of the cheapest ways of getting health care.
32:49Those who are willing to take Medicaid patients get reimbursed less than they do if you take a Medicare patient.
32:57They get reimbursed less than if you take a private insurance patient.
33:00So we know it's a very lean, and I'm very grateful to those providers who are willing to take the Medicaid patients because there isn't a lot of fat in that program.
33:11But with that, is there anything else?
33:13With that, Madam Chair, I yield back.
33:15And thank you for the debate and the conversation.
33:17Thank you, Ms. Fernandez.
33:18The gentlewoman yields back.
33:24Mr. Langworthy, you're recognized.
33:26No questions, Madam Chair.
33:28Okay.
33:29Mr. Roy, you're recognized.
33:31I thank the Chair.
33:32I want to thank both of the...