House Passes $1.94T Bush Budget ‘Blueprint’ Amid Democrats’ Medicare Concerns

Republicans "pushed" a $1.94 trillion budget resolution for FY 2002 (H.Con.Res. 83) through the House on March 28, moving President Bush's "blueprint" for tax cuts and "curtailed" spending over the "first major congressional hurdle," while Democrats complained that the plan would "do nothing to buttress" Medicare, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports. While the House passed the resolution on a "near party line" 222-205 vote, Republicans "hailed their victory as a triumph." The package would pave the way for Bush's 10-year, $1.6 trillion tax cut, provide $2.3 trillion in debt reduction over the next 10 years, use parts of the Social Security and Medicare surpluses to "overhaul both programs" and limit many programs to 4% growth next year. Democrats said that the measure would "squander" the projected $5.6 trillion surplus and "shortchange" efforts to strengthen Medicare and add a prescription drug benefit to the program (Fram, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/29). They also said that the budget would "impose cuts" in children's health care programs (Welch, USA Today, 3/29). Still, Republicans "finessed" some Democratic concerns by adding a $517 billion, 10-year "contingency fund" that lawmakers could "tap" to boost funding for government agencies or to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. The House yesterday also rejected, on a 243-183 vote, an alternative plan proposed by Democratic leaders that would have provided a smaller tax cut, additional debt reduction and "more money" for a Medicare prescription drug benefit (Hook, Los Angeles Times, 3/29).

'Stiffer Test' Ahead
The New York Times reports that the GOP budget will meet a "much stiffer test" in the evenly divided Senate next week (Rosenbaum, New York Times, 3/29). Republicans face "near-lockstep opposition" from Democrats, while some moderate Republicans have called Bush's tax cut package "too big" and his proposed spending restraints "too stingy" (AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/29). Still, CongressDaily reports that Senate GOP leaders "appear to be gaining ground" in efforts to "reach out" to centrist Democrats. "They're just talking to everybody," Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said, adding that he has sought assurances "that we'll pay down the debt, Social Security, and there'll be a prescription drug part of Medicare" (Earle et al., CongressDaily, 3/28).

'Unrealistic' Plan?
In an editorial, USA Today argues that while the GOP budget resolution "[s]ounds good," in "budgeting, as in war, the first casualty seems to be the truth." The editorial warns that "[u]nrealistic spending plans and runaway tax cuts are a recipe for a return to dipping into Social Security and Medicare funds and renewing deficits" (USA Today, 3/29). However, in an accompanying opinion piece, House Budget Committee Chair Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) argues that since taking over the majority in 1995, "Republicans not only balanced the budget, but we also locked away every penny of the Social Security and Medicare surpluses." He adds that the plan "holds [down] the overall growth of spending" and boosts funding for "important priorities," such as preserving Medicare and improving health care for Americans (Nussle, USA Today, 3/29).