While the 2006 Congressional elections have changed the majority party in both the House and the Senate, the ACR doesn't assume Congress will come to its senses by itself.

They, and other interested parties, will continue to vigorously pursue the goal of delaying or repealing the impending imaging cuts contained in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) prior to their implementation on January 1, 2007.

The ACR has always framed this issue as nonpartisan as it pertains to the well-being of patients and their continued ability to access life-saving imaging services. This successful strategy is reflected in the growing list of bipartisan cosponsors for both HR 5704 in the House of Representatives and S 3795 in the Senate.


The fate of legislation to address the DRA imaging cuts will depend on the current majoritys willingness to tackle issues other than federal agency appropriations when they return next week on November 13. There is still no indication from Republican leaders as to how long they plan to stay in session in order to take care of the nations business. Regardless, the ACR and its partners in the Access to Medical Imaging Coalition will continue to highlight the need for these cuts to be addressed prior to it adjournment.

The ACR will continue to update its membership as this issue evolves in the waning days of the 109th Congress. For more information, please contact ACR Senior Director of Government Relations Josh Cooper at jcooper@acr.org or Assistant Director for Congressional Relations Orrin Marcella at omarcella@acr.org.

To read the AMIC statement on the Congressional elections, go to:
http://www.acr.org/s_acr/bin.asp?CID=2540&DID=25113&DOC=FILE.PDF

To visit the Access to Medicare Imaging Act section of the ACR Web site, go to:
http://www.acr.org/s_acr/doc.asp?CID=2537&DID=23825

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