Latest news with #JudiciarySubcommittee
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Lawmakers accuse medical residency matching program of violating antitrust laws
WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust debated Wednesday whether the program that matches new doctors with residency opportunities violated antitrust laws and should have its antitrust protections repealed. Medical students in the United States are required to complete a residency program to work as licensed physicians. For the past 70 years, students in their final year of medical school have been assigned to these programs through the National Residency Matching Program or the "Match." The Match was instituted to replace a chaotic system of hospitals bidding on residents. The Match uses an algorithm that takes into account the preferences of medical students who submit a ranked list of residency programs. It also considers the hospitals' own preferences for applicants. Every year, on the third Friday of March, medical students open an envelope to learn their match, which likely determines where they will live for the next several years, how much money they will make and what specialty they are allowed to pursue. Students are legally bound to their matched program with no room to negotiate salary, vacation time or working hours. "When America's future doctors apply for residency, they enter a closed market controlled by a single accreditation monopoly," said Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis, who chairs the subcommittee. "As a result, there's no competition now, and it decides the fate of more than 50,000 residents and fellows each year." In 2004, Congress exempted the National Residency Matching Program from antitrust liability, reinforcing the existing, restrictive system, many observers argue. While there was bipartisan acknowledgement of flaws in the Match, Republicans and Democrats were divided on how to approach reforming the system. GOP members of the committee were more inclined to support repealing antitrust protections granted to the program. "At a minimum, we need to narrow the scope of an overly broad exemption that literally puts a gag order on getting any information," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, told Medill News Service. Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Ill., expressed skepticism toward repealing antitrust protections for the Match. He suggested alternative measures medical residents could take to negotiate better working conditions. "I think there are several ways for [reforming the Match] to happen, including unionization, especially in urban areas," Garcia said. While unionization can be a method for residents to advocate for higher salaries and better working conditions, it does not address the blind sorting nature of the Match. Thomas Miller, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, who testified before the committee, said unionization was not a holistic solution. "Unionization is a response to a problem, and when you have a power imbalance, you will have more residents finding that unions are their main or only option," Miller told Medill News Service. "That's a symptom rather than a solution, but when that's your best solution, you'll gravitate more toward it." Many Democrats also favored reforming the Match, but were unsure of what steps to take. "I'm not sure how to improve it," Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. told Medill News Service. "No one has suggested an intelligent way to improve it." Miller proposed a middle-ground solution of modifying the antitrust protections without outright repealing them. He offered a few possible modifications to the system, such as letting institutions compete for medical students and expanding the time frame during which students would have to accept offers. "You could have more than one [residency] offer to have some degree of negotiating room," Miller said. "We can set rules to eliminate set periods so you don't have exploding offers. They have to be around for a while. You can have early deadlines and later deadlines." Miller dismissed the idea that no viable proposed alternatives exist to the Match system. "The current system is not a proposal, either," Miller said. "No, there are all kinds of proposals. The issue is, what's the first step?"
Fox News
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Illinois Democrat minimizes violent acts committed by illegal immigrants as just 'a few crimes'
Rep. Jesús "Chuy" García, D- Ill., appeared to dismiss illegal immigrants attacking and murdering Americans as simply "immigrants committing a few crimes" Wednesday. Garcia made his remarks at a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement where he feigned surprise that Republicans were "scapegoat[ing] immigrants once again." "Republicans have lifted up some tragedies that involve immigrants committing a few crimes," Garcia said, claiming Republicans were being "dishonest and cruel." "This is the exception, not the rule," he added. "I live in an immigrant neighborhood in Chicago. I know what it's like." Just before García spoke, Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., called out sanctuary city policies for releasing known violent criminals onto the streets with no clear oversight. "There have been murders, there have been rapes, there have been disfigurements," Van Drew said. He added, "We know what happened to Laken Riley. We know what's happened to so many people. We're trying to clean up the chaos that was left behind." Also, shortly before García made his comments, Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, gave a series of examples of sanctuary cities ignoring ICE detainers on rapists and killers, many of whom went on to assault and kill again. García also argued that sanctuary city polices, such as the ones implemented in Chicago, have produced lower crime and poverty rates. He concluded that Republicans are "not interested in public safety or crime victims" because of how they've embraced President Donald Trump's deportation policies. Chicago Flips Red Vice President Danielle Carter-Walters responded to García during her testimony. "It's funny that Mr. García is from Chicago, and he cannot tell you what's happening in our community. If he came into our community, he would see all the gang graffiti, the Tren de Aragua signs, the MS-13. He would see across the street in a park where they're putting the shelters, all the needles in the park," Carter-Walters said. She also attacked sanctuary city policies and claimed, based on her husband's experience as a former police officer, that crimes by illegal immigrants are often not reported. Fox News Digital reached out to Garcia's press secretary for further comment.
