GOP senator would block Medicaid cuts

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- A moderate Republican is trying to strip all $14 billion in Medicaid cuts from the Senate's $2.56 trillion budget, testing the GOP-run Congress' appetite for trimming spending as President Bush has proposed.

As the Senate began debating the budget Monday, Republicans struggled behind the scenes to head off the amendment by Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. Should Smith prevail later this week, it would mark an embarrassing rejection of one of the pillars of Bush's budget and raise questions about how much deficit reduction the GOP can achieve, even at a time of record shortfalls.

"All the talk this year is about cracking down on spending," including on Medicaid and agriculture aid, "and neither is getting very far," said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group that advocates eliminating federal deficits. "What's Plan B?"

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., told his colleagues Monday that a vote to erase the proposed Medicaid savings would mean "that individual doesn't have any interest in our children or our children's children" because of massive long-term budget deficits that are expected.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/03/14/gop_senator_would_block_medicaid_cuts/

[GetTheRightVote]

1. This is interesting, very interesting .........

:kick:

[Tempest]

2. Smith doesn't want to commit political suicide

The Repug plan to cut programs to the poor in favor of subsidies to rich agricultural corporations isn't going over very well in any state.

The number of editorials from all over the country against the cuts should be a major wake-up call to the Repugs.

[barbaraann]

3. Smith's son committed suicide, so maybe he learned

from that terrible experience that we need to be a community of caring people. Just maybe.

[Rose Siding]

4. Looks like this failed- 49 to 44

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1311844

And how DARE a repub use the effect of long term deficits on our children to defend its defeat?!!! What about the TAX CUTS? What about the DEFENSE budget? idiots.

[hopein08]

8. That was a different amendment by Bingaman...

it mentions it in the article in the original post in this thread. We've still got hope for this one.

[Rose Siding]

9. So Bingaman's bill that went down today was different

than the one he's co-sponsoring with Smith?

[Trish1168]

5. I'm confused

For years, the dems were 'tax and spend' pickpockets who cared too much for poor people.

Could it be that some republicans have a conscience?

[Rose Siding]

6. Not enough of them

It didn't pass

[AlCzervik]

7. my guess is that he took a trip back home and his

"constituents" gave him an earful. Maybe he's up for re-election in the midterms.