As Congress Returns, Anxiety Over Deficits Puts Fee-Fix in Jeopardy

Returning from a 10-day break today, Congress will have a difficult time passing a physician fee-fix and other pressing spending measures because of the public’s growing uneasiness about the federal deficit, according to a report by the Spokane Spokesman-Review.

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The report, prepared by McClatchy News, says lawmakers had a chance to hear their constituents during the break. “One of the No. 1 concerns I hear about back home is deficit spending,” said Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.).

Democrats are picking up on a highly negative mood among constituents as they head into the November elections. In a recent Pew Research Center Poll, only 13 percent thought Congress was doing a good or excellent job.

CMS has postponed the 21.3 percent fee cut until June 14, giving the Senate a week to pass a two-year fee-fix the House passed before the break. But Congress has plenty of other business on its plate, such as extended unemployment benefits and a $58.b billion package for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and to help people affected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and recent natural disasters.

Read the Spokane Spokesman-Review report on the physician fee-fix.

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