Washington, DC - U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, Chairman of the House Republican Conference, gave the following statement today on H.R. 3961, the Pelosi "doc fix":

"I am pleased to be here with my colleagues in leadership as well as three prominent doctors who serve with us here in Congress, who you'll hear from in a moment. We had a very vigorous discussion among Republicans this morning and as it's been said, let's be clear, House Republicans support addressing the shortfall for America's physicians in a fiscally responsible way. But today, to facilitate a government takeover of health care, Democrats are bringing to the floor legislation that will add more than $200 billion to the federal deficit and debt and the American people have rejected this approach.
 
"Even the president, in China, in the last 48 hours said, ‘If we keep adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy.' Well, Mr. President, we have news for you. We are adding to the debt today. The people are losing confidence in this economy because of the fiscal recklessness of the Democrat majority and this administration here in Washington, D.C. Where I grew up, we have a saying: ‘When you're in a hole, stop digging.' Democrats ought to stop digging deeper into the deficit, come together with Republicans and work on a fiscally responsible solution to meet the needs of America's doctors."