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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Crimson Ghost who wrote (43681)	4/29/2005 3:14:00 PM
From: geode00	Respond to of 173976

Yep, Bush et al are transforming the US into a second class country. Think that we can't become North Korea with a huge military and starving citizens? We are headed there already. We are headed back at least a century (and for fundamentalist idiots, a couple of millenia) as Bush destroys all of the social and economic and fiscal progress made since the 1920s. =============== Congress passes budget bill that hits Medicaid hard Mary Dalrymple Associated Press Published April 29, 2005 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congress passed a $2.6 trillion budget Thursday that would cut back Medicaid as a step toward trimming federal deficits. It instructs Congress to freeze or cut spending in many domestic programs outside of defense and homeland security and to restrain farm, student loan, pension and some other government programs that grow automatically from year to year. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said it's time to look closely at benefit programs that are "popular but rife with waste." "These entitlement programs deserve reform," he said. "The Medicaid system is antiquated and the quality of care is not being brought to the people that need it." The Senate voted 52-47 to approve the blueprint of tax and spending priorities hours after the House passed it 214-211. After the House vote, President Bush praised the budget resolution. "This is a responsible budget that reins in spending to limits not seen in years," he said in a written statement. Democrats blasted the planned cuts and expressed doubt that the budget's projections of shrinking deficits would happen. "This budget is an assault on our values," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said. Republicans said the plan to shrink spending only nicks rapidly growing benefit programs, which will continue growing but at a slightly slower rate. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, committed not to eliminate coverage for the needy and disabled Americans covered by Medicaid, the health care program run jointly by state and federal governments. "Doing nothing is far worse for Medicaid beneficiaries," he said. Democrats expressed skepticism about GOP promises and questioned the budget's projections of shrinking deficits. "This budget says the lives of poor mothers and poor children are not that important after all," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. "Under this budget, tax breaks for the rich are more important than life itself." The budget would shave automatically increasing benefit programs by $35 billion over five years while also cutting taxes by as much as $106 billion over the same period. Medicaid gets marked for a $10 billion reduction over four years. Without any change, the Congressional Budget Office expects the government to spend $191 billion on Medicaid next year and more than $1.1 trillion over the five years covered by the budget. The budget also could pave the way for opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. In past years, the drilling authorization has died in the Senate because of a filibuster threat. The budget resolution protects future bills from filibuster. Democrats reject latest Frist offer Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist offered Democrats another option in an attempt to end the impasse over judicial nominees. Minority Leader Harry Reid immediately labeled it "a big wet kiss to the far right." This followed Republicans' quick rejection of a Democratic offer Tuesday, and even the most optimistic senators said they knew of no proposals with a realistic chance of bridging the gap. "Everybody seems to be dug in," said University of Richmond law Prof. Carl Tobias, who has tracked the debate closely. "And Frist's proposal doesn't seem to advance things much." Frist, R-Tenn., offered to allow senators to debate appellate court nominees for as long as 100 hours before voting to confirm or reject them. The plan would eliminate the right to continually debate, or filibuster, judicial nominees. His plan also would prohibit senators from bottling up judicial nominees in committee, a tactic that he acknowledged both parties have used over the years. Reid, D-Nev., told reporters minutes after Frist's floor speech, "There's no way we're going to give up our right to extended debate."