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Senate May Not Consider Bush Medicare Budget Cuts
Finance chair says there are not enough votes to
pass them
March 8, 2006 – The conflicting signals from
Washington about cuts in Medicare continued today with a report that
Senate Budget Committee Chair Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) says he will not
include the cuts recommended by President Bush in his committee's budget
bill. He says there are not enough votes to pass them, according to
KaiserNet.org's Capitol Hill Watch.
Capitol Hill Watch: Senate
Budget Committee Budget Proposal Thought To Drop Many of President
Bush's Planned Spending and Tax Cuts
 Senate
Budget Committee Chair Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) on Tuesday said he will
not include President Bush's recommended cuts to Medicare and other
entitlement programs in the committee's fiscal year 2007 budget bill
because the proposals lack enough votes for passage, the
AP/Houston Chronicle reports (Taylor, AP/Houston Chronicle, 3/8).
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Report of Massive Deficit in Bush Budget Sets Off
New Alarms for Medicare
Senate, House budget leaders say they are ready to
cut entitlements more
March 6, 2006 – An analysis by the Congressional
Budget Office says the 2007 budget proposed by President Bush will
increase the federal deficit by $35 billion this year and $1.2 trillion
over ten years. This has raised new alarm that entitlement programs,
like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, may be in for additional
reductions by the Congress – in particular the House - as they consider
the budget. The CBO reports shows the Bush proposal already includes
five year reductions for Medicare of $37 billion and all entitlement
programs by $56 billion, according to KaiserNet.org.
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Bush on Feb. 6 sent his FY 2007 budget
proposal to Congress, which would reduce spending on entitlement
programs by $65 billion over five years, including $37 billion in cuts
to Medicare.
Gregg said, "We didn't have the votes on the floor"
(Dennis/Evans, CQ Today, 3/7). He also said, "I went to the chairmen of
the committees which were responsible for reconciliation and all of them
felt that in this climate it would be very difficult for them to do
that."
Gregg is expected to introduce his budget blueprint
on Wednesday and said it could be brought for a committee vote on
Thursday (AP/Houston Chronicle, 3/8). CQ Today reports that "hopes among
fiscal conservatives for significant cuts" from entitlement programs
"now rest with the House."
Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), whose
committee has jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid, said cuts to
entitlement programs could still move forward through the House budget
resolution.
However, CQ Today reports that because "moderate
Republicans have questioned moving forward with a package of budget cuts
without bipartisan support in an election year," this scenario "appears
unlikely."
House Budget Committee Chair Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) said, "We'll wait
and see what happens in conference," adding, "We're not the Senate" (CQ
Today, 3/8). The House is unlikely to act on the FY 2007 budget until
after St. Patrick's Day, according to several sources, CongressDaily
reports (Cohn, CongressDaily, 3/8).
"Reprinted with
permission from kaisernetwork.org You can view the entire
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, and sign up
for email delivery at
www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser
Daily Health Policy Report is published for
kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family
Foundation. © 2006 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation.
All rights reserved.”
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