House panel drops cuts in Medicare
The $2.8 trillion budget plan was approved by the Budget Committee last night on a party-line 22 to 17 vote omits Bush’s proposed cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, crop subsidies and other politically sensitive programs, but preserves his plan to trim spending by most Cabinet agencies, including veteran healthcare.
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.
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.
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