Bipartisan Vote Sends Permanent ‘Doc Fix’ Bill to Senate

iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — By an overwhelming bipartisan vote, the House of Representatives pulled together on Thursday to send the Senate what supporters are calling the most-significant entitlement reform of the past 20 years.

In a rare display of bipartisanship, House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi came together to strike a deal, repealing the Sustainable Growth Rate and replacing it with a long-term solution to Medicare repayment, as well as extending funding for community health centers for two years.

By a vote of 392-37, the bill, formally known as Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, now heads to the Senate where Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid comes under pressure to back the bipartisan deal.

Just four Democrats opposed the House vote, while 180 supported it. Thirty-three Republicans also voted against the measure.

To date, Reid has been somewhat reluctant to endorse the deal, pouring cold water on the idea of bringing the measure up for a vote quickly in the Senate.

“The SGR is still a work in progress, and I personally am going to wait until we see it having pass the House before we start speculating on what we need to do with it, if anything,” Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday.

Since 2003, Congress has spent nearly $170 billion in short-term patches to avoid cuts imposed by the SGR.

“This is a bill that will provide better health care for seniors and real savings for taxpayers,” Boehner, R-Ohio, said during a news conference shortly before the vote. “This’ll be the first real entitlement reform that we’ve seen in nearly two decades, and that’s a big win for the American people. It was a true bipartisan agreement.”

Boehner urged the Senate to pass the bill prior to the March 31 deadline.

“I was pleased to hear the president would sign the bill, and I would urge the Senate to pass it expeditiously,” Boehner said.

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