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John Gallagher Goes to Washington

Published in Government Relations on December 19, 2022

On Dec. 14-15, John Gallagher, VP of VGM Government Relations, traveled to Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. making one last push for the industry before the end of the year. On this trip, John and AAHomecare’s Jay Witter joined forces to show our lawmakers a united front on behalf of the industry. Together they had many productive meetings and discussions with members of Congress and their staff over issues that the DME industry is facing.

These congressional meetings included multiple members of Congress and their staff. Included were Sens. Crapo (R-ID), Wyden (D-OR), Grassley (R-IA), Cantwell (D-WA), and Ernst (R-IA). Meetings were also held with Reps. Smith (R-MO), Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Arrington (R-TX), Hinson (R-IA), Feenstra (R-IA), and McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA).

Gallagher strongly requested support for the Senate extension of the CARES Act and House Bill H.R. 6641 (90/10 provision for CBA relief). He stressed the importance of including both in the Omnibus bill to support providers. John was told by an Energy and Commerce staffer that the CARES Act Extension is "in the mix," and there is still potential for H.R. 6641 as well.

It was a very successful few days of meetings. We will keep everyone updated as the VGM Government Relations team continues to follow up with members of Congress after these meetings. We need your help to make sure the CARES Act Extension is included in the end-of-year package. It is important that everyone contacts their members of Congress.

To contact your member of Congress, click here and enter your zip code. You can either send our message or you can call the D.C. Switchboard at (202)-224-3121.

Special shoutout to Emily Harken, Director of Operations, VGM Government Relations, for working out the schedule and making all these meetings a possibility!

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