Today in Scranton, PA, President George W. Bush renewed his call for Congress to impose the first federal restrictions on malpractice cases, saying that "broken" medical liability system is driving away doctors and increasing the cost and availability of health care. Today the President urged Congress to enact legislation limiting awards for pain and suffering to $250,000 and to curb punitive damages as well.

The President first proposed an overhaul of medical-liability system last summer. The House passed legislation along the lines the president wanted, but the measure stalled in the then Democratic-controlled Senate. With the Senate now in Republican control, the prospects might be better. Democrats and trial lawyers have resisted changes in malpractice laws, saying that patients need legal recourse when they are harmed by reckless doctors.

The President stated that this is a national problem that can not be addressed solely by state governments. Typically, states set their own malpractice guidelines.

Although he wasn't invited to the event with President Bush, Gov.-elect Ed Rendell (D) was scheduled to hold a news conference shortly after the President's noon speech in which he was expected to call on Bush to raise Medicare and Medicaid payments for doctors and hospitals. Rendell spokesperson Ken Snyder said award caps will take years to implement: "We need solutions that will take months".