dr. robert wah speaking about doc fix on "newsmakers."iles of new members of congress with representative steve russell. coming up on "washington journal" a look at the no child left behind law with randi weingarten. also, nicholas sarwark talks about the political and ideological views of the libertarian party, its electoral successes and challenges, and where the party stands heading into the 2060 presidential election. and on the role and influence of first lady spouses with anita mcbride and karen tumulty. ♪ host: good morning. here in washington dc, the cherry blossoms are out at their petite this weekend. yesterday, police locked down the capital for about three hours following a suicide on the west front of the capital. the president backup the white house this morning, following the summit of the americas, which include a one on one

dr. robert wah talks about the affordable care act in its second year and other health care issues. sunday 10:00 a.m. on c-span. >> this sunday, senior editor for the weekly standard talks about the gop presidential candidates and what voters are looking for in a candidate. >> they want somebody who looks like he has stood up for them. i am amazed at the degree to which primary voters on both sides are motivated by resentment and the sense of being put upon. those people don't understand us. here is a guy, who does understand us and he will stick it to them. that happens on both sides. hillary clinton gives her own version of that type of thing. i don't think that that was actually true for -- 30 years ago. resentment has always been part of politics, but to the degree to which it is exclusively the motivating factor in truly committed republicans and democrats -- >> sunday night on c-span. >> coming up next, a look at the legacy of laura bush. then a debate on the merits and impact of employee unions. and from des moines iowa, jim webb and martin o'malley. >> hofstra university loo

dr. robert wah, our guest on newsmakers. he is the president of the american medical association joining us from chicago. let me introduce the reporters asking questions. noam levey covers health care policy for the los angeles times. nice to see you. melissa attias is making her first visit to newsmakers. she covers health policy for cq roll call. we talk about the expected consideration regarding the dock fix. i know your organization does not prefer that term but i am sure many c-span viewers have heard that in washington parlance. tell us what this issue is. what is this intended to deal with. dr. wah: we are talking about sustainable growth rate which has been in place for a long time. it was originally passed in 1997. it was thought to be an effort to control the costs of the medicare program. it resulted in about 17 patches over the last 10 or 12 years. each one of those paid for the one year period, not the committed interest, like a credit card, on past things. by kicking the can down the road each year, congress ac

dr. robert wall our guest on "newsmakers" this week. -- dr. robert wah, our guest on "newsmakers" this week. is this an easy move for the senate? melissa: i think there is a lot of pressure on the senate, digitally with such a large bipartisan vote in the house. why there are definitely politics on both sides of the aisle. as noam said, there is a push to get this -- some democrats are also concerned about restriction -- abortion restrictions applied to community funding in the bill. some are trying to repeal the tax on medicare therapy services. people want amendments but it is not clear whether they will have the opportunity to offer them and vote for them. host: what is the price tag? noam: about $200 billion plus right? host: where will they cut to reach this? noam: i think there are issues involving the aca. melissa: the price tag is about $141 billion of additional deficit spending. we have not seen any specific proposals on how to cover the costs from conservatives. one technique the inconsiderate is to take out the exception in the bill which wou

dr. robert wah talks about the affordable care act in its second year and other health care issues. newsmakers, sunday, 10:00 a.m. on c-span. >> this sunday, senior editor for the weekly standard andrew ferguson on his writing career, the gop presidential candidates and what voters are looking for in a candidate. andrew: they want somebody who looks like he has stood up for them. i am amazed at the degree to which primary voters on both sides are motivated by resentment and the sense of being put upon. those people don't understand us. here is a guy, who does understand us and he will stick it to them. that happens on both sides. hillary clinton gives her own version of that type of thing. i don't think that that was actually true 30 years ago. resentment has always been part of politics, but to the degree to which it is exclusively the motivating factor in truly committed republicans and democrats -- >> sunday night on c-span. >> coming up next, a look at the legacy of laura bush. then a debate on the merits and impact of employee unions. and from des moines, iowa, jim webb and mar

dr. robert wah. he talks about the doc fix bill, said to be debated in the senate, possibly next week.ere is a bit. [video clip] dr. wah: what we talking about is a sustainable growth rate. it was originally passed in 19 a seven. it was thought to be an effort to control the cost of the medicare program. it resulted in about 17 patches over the last 10 or 12 years. each one of those patches just paid for the one year period. it did not pay for the accumulated interest, like a credit card. bike kicking the can down the road each year, congress accumulated a lot of this interest so that now, april 15 if the senate does not act there will be a 21 percent cut in physician payments, which is essentially the accumulated interest of all of these years of taking the can down the road. i want to talk a little bit about the term doc fix. as a physician, i'm a little biased against that because it is not doctors that need to be fixed, it is medicare that needs to be fixed. we are seeking a fix in medicare. the term doc fix has a things up by a lot of journalists and whenever i get a chance, i tri