House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Thursday voiced his objection to the idea of using war savings from troop withdrawals in Iraq and Afghanistan as a potential offset for the Medicare “doc fix.”
“I think it needs to pass the straight face test,” Boehner told reporters when asked about the prospect. “And the fact is we are going to spend less in our war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. And to use those funds, those savings, to propell more spending doesn’t seem to make a great deal of sense.”
TPM reported yesterday that House GOP leadership had privately taken off the table the $838 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) savings as a potential offset to fix the Medicare physician payment formula. The idea has strong support among Democrats and some prominent Republicans.
Medicare doctors are poised to take a 27.4 percent cut on March 1 if no action is taken.
