Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) has offered an amendment to the reconciliation package for the new health care reform law that would eliminate the sustainable growth rate (SGR) budget mechanism responsible for the 21% cut to Medicare payments.
As you know, the SGR will reduce Medicare payments by 21% on April 1. I can't find the text of the amendment, but my impression from listening to Gregg talk about the cut on CSPAN is the amendment would require savings from the new health reform law to be used to eliminate the SGR for several years.
Republicans have offered 21 amendments as of 4:15 p.m. Wednesday. Democrats will hesitate to vote yes on amendments because the House of Representatives would then be required to pass the reconciliation package, again. Both Republicans and Democrats say Medicare's payment formula is broken, but they have not been able to agree on doc fix for the last several years. So it will be interesting to see how votes shake out on the Republican's amendment.
Following votes on reconciliation, the Senate may take up a the one-month Medicare doc fix adopted by the House on March 17.
[UPDATE: Democrats aren't letting any amendments through. Gregg's amendment failed by a 42-56 vote late Wednesday night.]