House Rules Committee Approves Measure To Delay Medicare ‘Trigger’ Law; House Expected To Vote on Bill This Week

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday approved a measure that would delay consideration of President Bush's Medicare "trigger" bill for the remainder of the 110th Congress, CQ Today reports.

A provision of the 2003 Medicare law requires the president to propose a savings measure if the Medicare trustees for two consecutive years project the program to pull more than 45% of its funding from general government revenue. In April 2007, the trustees issued a second warning. The Rules Committee bill would circumvent another provision of the Medicare law that requires action to be taken on the president's savings measure by July 30. If no action is taken on the measure by the deadline, any member of the House can force debate and a vote on it (Armstrong, CQ Today, 7/23).

Rules Committee Chair Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said that the measure should have bipartisan support in the chamber. However, a Republican aide said that some party lawmakers who disagree with Bush's provision still want to invoke debate on Medicare spending to propose alternative savings plans (Edney, CongressDaily, 7/24). Conservative Republicans on Wednesday circulated a memo that opposes the Rules Committee bill, saying that Democrats are "ignoring" Medicare spending issues (CQ Today, 7/23).

The House is expected to consider the Rules Committee measure this week, according to CongressDaily (CongressDaily, 7/24).