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Bush Medicare Cuts Getting Cold Shoulder in Senate
and House
Conservative House Study Committee, however,
recommends even more cuts
March 9, 2006 Republican enthusiasm for cutting
Medicare is waning rapidly. The Senate Budget Committee is holding a
mark-up session today on their 2007 budget resolution, which ignores
President Bush's proposed cuts in Medicare and other entitlement
programs. It is just as hot in the House, where 60 moderate Republican
members sent a letter to House Budget Committee Chair Jim Nussle saying
they oppose the Bush cuts to Medicare. There is another side, however,
with the conservative House Republican Study Committee proposing
even more cuts that Bush recommended, according to KaiserNet.org.
It is a sudden about face for
Senate Budget
Committee Chair Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who on March 1 said,
"Congress took a first step toward addressing long-term entitlement
reform in the Deficit Reduction Act, and we need to build on that
progress."
"I am pleased the President has offered proposals
in his Fiscal Year 2007 budget that will improve the sustainability of
Medicare, and I am optimistic we can begin to reduce the rate of growth
so that we do not mortgage the opportunities available to our children
and our childrens children," he added.
Now, however, he says the votes are just not there
in the Senate to pass these cuts.
Capitol Hill Watch: Senate Budget Committee Budget
Proposal Lacks Major Spending Cuts for Federal Health Programs, While
Republican Study Committee Plan Calls for Reductions
Senate Budget
Committee Chair Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) on Wednesday proposed a
fiscal year 2007 budget resolution that "essentially ignores President
Bush's
proposals
to find a net $65 billion in savings from entitlement programs such as
Medicare over the next five years," CQ Today reports (Dennis, CQ Today,
3/8).
 According to
The Hill,
the resolution, which would "assume revenue" by allowing oil drilling in
Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is "expected to be approved by
the committee" on Thursday. Gregg said, "I call it a standard, vanilla
budget" (Allen/O'Connor, The Hill, 3/9).
Gregg said the resolution does not include more
cuts because there are not enough Senate votes to pass them.
The budget debate has been influenced by "[e]lection-year
politics," the
AP/Houston
Chronicle reports (Taylor, AP/Houston Chronicle, 3/9).
Congress in 2005 pushed "broad spending cuts"
through the "filibuster-proof reconciliation process," but Senate
leaders this year "have opted [instead] to create a single, narrowly
targeted reconciliation bill," The Hill reports (The Hill, 3/9).
Gregg's proposal includes a provision that would
create a budget point of order against new mandatory spending proposals
if government revenue other than Medicare taxes and fees subsidize more
than 45% of the program's cost.
Gregg said
HHS
Secretary Mike Leavitt had proposed the provision, which could be
applicable within five years, CQ Today reports (CQ Today, 3/8). Gregg's
proposal "won only faint praise" from other Republican senators, the
AP/Chronicle reports. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said the proposal
is like "treading water in the ocean budget," adding, "It's better than
sinking, but it's not a long-term solution, and you can't do it
forever."
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) said, "No one should
kid themselves. This is not a budget that is going to have a significant
impact on the fiscal policy of this country." The AP/Chronicle reports
that it is "not clear" whether the Senate and House will be able to
agree on a final budget (AP/Houston Chronicle, 3/9).
Conservative Republicans Propose Budget
In related news, the House
Republican Study
Committee on Wednesday announced a five-year budget plan that
would spend nearly $1 trillion less than Bush's budget proposal, the
Washington Times
reports (Hurt, Washington Times, 3/9).
Medicaid would be turned into a block grant program
under the RSC proposal (Schatz, CQ Today, 3/8). The proposal also
includes $217.9 billion in Medicare cuts over five years. RSC is
planning to offer the proposal as a "substitute" to the FY 2007 budget
resolution when it reaches the House floor, CongressDaily reports
(CongressDaily, 3/8).
RSC Chair Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said, "Our goal is to
drive this process as far in the direction of a balanced budget as we
possibly can in an election year." Pence added that a House-Senate deal
should include entitlement cuts, and that the House may not pass a
budget if cuts are not included. Republican moderates are "likely to
meet [the proposal] with stiff resistance," CQ Today reports (Schatz, CQ
Today, 3/8).
GOP Moderates' Letter
In other related news, more than 60 House Republicans in a letter to
House Budget
Committee Chair Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) on Wednesday said they
oppose Bush's proposal to cut $37 billion from Medicare over five years.
The letter, "spearheaded" by moderate Reps. Jim
Gerlach (R-Pa.) and John McHugh (R-N.Y.), also was signed by Reps. Tom
Davis (R-Va.), Ernest Istook (R-Okla.), Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) and Don
Young (R-Alaska), among others.
The lawmakers write, "At a time when 32% of
hospitals have negative total margins and seven out of 10 are losing
money on Medicare, we strongly believe now is not the time for further
reductions" (Cohn, CongressDaily, 3/9). They add, "Hospitals are not
just a health care safety net for their communities but also anchor
local economies. They also must stand ready to respond to natural
disasters, pandemic diseases and the threat of terrorism" (Los
Angeles Times, 3/9).
AARP Letter
AARP
CEO William Novelli in a letter to Gregg and
Senate Finance
Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) also said two Bush
budget proposals affecting Medicare should not be approved.
Novelli said lawmakers should oppose a provision
that would create an automatic 0.4% across-the-board cut to Medicare
when federal general revenues fund more than 45% of Medicare spending.
Lawmakers instead should enforce a provision in the Medicare drug law
that calls for a review of spending when federal Medicare spending
exceeds 45% of federal revenues, Novelli said.
AARP also said lawmakers should reject Bush's
proposal to eliminate indexing of income-related Medicare Part B
premiums. Under Bush's plan, about 3.8 million Medicare beneficiaries
would pay a higher share of premiums by 2016.
Novelli in the letter said, "We are particularly
concerned about proposals to cut Medicare that would ignore the fact
that unsustainable growth in health care spending through the system is
the root of the problem."
Novelli added, "Proposals that would impose
automatic arbitrary cuts to program spending would be harmful to the
health of more than 42 million Americans who rely on Medicare for their
health insurance" (Carey/Schuler,
CQ HealthBeat,
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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