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House Budget Plan Ignores Bush Cuts to Medicare but
Hits Veterans Health Care
March 30, 2006 – The budget cuts proposed by
President Bush to Medicare and Medicaid did not make it through the
House Budget Committee, which approved a $2.8 billion plan last night by
a 22-17 vote - down party lines - of the Republican dominated,
conservative-leaning committee. The bill goes to the full House next
week.
Veterans, many of them senior citizens, did not
fair so well. The House committee cut the budget for medical care of
veterans below even current levels for the rest of the decade. Democrats
complained that would be something like a $10 billion cut after
inflation and the growth in the number of veterans seeking benefits that
is expected in the years ahead.
The plan approved was written by Chairman Jim
Nussle (R-Iowa), who acknowledged election year pressure favored
rejection of Bush's proposed $65 billion in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid,
crop subsidies and other politically sensitive programs. It does,
however, trim spending for most Cabinet agencies.
Drawing the most fire from moderates and Democrats
is a cut federal spending on education by more than $5 billion, about 7
percent. Democrats also fought for increased funding for port security,
veterans programs, food stamps and homeland security.
They also opposed the deficit of $348 billion
proposed by the plan for 2007 - $1 trillion through 2011. Some even said
these estimates were too low, since there is no spending allocated for
the war in Iraq after next year.
Rep. John Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.), was quoted by the
Associated Press as saying the national debt would almost double to more
than $9 trillion under Bush's tenure in office, a natural result "from a
fiscal policy that says you can have guns, butter, tax cuts too and
never mind the deficit. ... It holds no real plan or prospect of
balancing the budget.''
The recommendations from the Senate, approved
earlier this month, also ignored the Bush-proposed cuts to Medicare and
Medicaid.
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