Conservatives express little surprise as Bush boosts estimated Medicare co

[Judi Lynn]

Conservatives express little surprise as Bush boosts estimated Medicare costs by a third

ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
Friday, January 30, 2004




(01-30) 08:34 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

Conservatives expressed little surprise, and anger in private, as administration officials said President Bush now estimates the new Medicare overhaul law will cost a third more than projected when Congress passed the legislation last year.

The president's budget, to be released Monday, will also project a federal deficit this year of about $520 billion, congressional aides said. That would far exceed this year's $375 billion, the highest ever in dollar terms.

The budget will estimate the price of retooling Medicare and adding prescription drug benefits at $534 billion over the decade ending 2013, officials said. The figures, first revealed Thursday by congressional aides speaking on condition of anonymity, were confirmed by administration officials.

While hunting for the votes they needed to nudge the bill through, Bush and administration officials as well as top congressional Republicans told wavering conservatives they believed the bill's costs would track the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's $395 billion estimate.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/01/30/financial1134EST0081.DTL

[yolatengo]

1. they don't care

Conservatives KNOW this is a gimmick designed to distract
seniors and middle class suburbanites.

They KNOW B*sh, if given a second term, WILL NOT FUND THIS.

They KNOW it's more important to have POWER, and they will
LOSE if they don't LIE about this every day until Nov 6th.

Summer of '05 we'll hear:

"sorry, but look at the big, bad ol deficit! we're the party of
fiscal resonsibility and it's clear this has to be defunded to
save the nation, but hey, thanks for voting GOP bases on our
support for this, SUCKERS!".

Repeat for EVERY 'socialist' program B*sh is spouting support
for now. Like 'leave no child behind'. MorAn Americans will
continue to fall for this forever and ever.

The GOP is LAUGHING at all of us, buying our votes with promises
they have no intention of keeping. It's HILARIOUS to them that
they can keep doing this over and over yet NEVER suffer any
consequences. They shut down the whole government and 'suffered'
by losing what, 6 seats they got back with interest 2 years later?

Bigby

[David__77]

2. I'm trying to be optimistic about this.

In a sense, this is a victory. Indeed, this is an entitlement of sorts, and its establishment may end up being a good thing. Anything that strengthens Americans' expectations of moving toward the goal of universal health care is at least partly good.