[Mb-civic] GOP seeks cuts to ease cost of cleanup - Boston Globe

[William Swiggard]

GOP seeks cuts to ease cost of cleanup
Plan targets Medicaid, other social programs

By Rick Klein, Globe Staff  |  October 1, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Under pressure from conservatives, House and Senate 
Republican leaders are preparing a package of spending cuts to Medicaid 
and other social programs to defray some of the costs from the cleanup 
of Hurricane Katrina.

House leaders say they want to shave as much as $40 billion from various 
spending programs when budget negotiations with the Senate resume in 
mid-October. Those cuts would be in addition to $35 billion that 
Congress had agreed to cut earlier this year to reduce the federal deficit.

In the Senate, majority leader Bill Frist of Tennessee has asked all 
committee chairmen to scrub spending in their areas of oversight to 
generate possible savings. In addition, Frist and his leadership team 
sent a letter to President Bush on Wednesday asking him to produce a 
list of potential cuts.

Spending cuts will be debated in coming weeks, with an eye toward 
finishing work before Thanksgiving. Beyond Medicaid, House leaders say 
they are considering an across-the-board cut to all domestic programs, 
with the exception of defense, homeland security, and ''entitlement" 
programs such as Social Security that the government is obligated to fund.

''This is an opportunity for the Republican Party to reconnect itself 
with the country on an issue that matters -- the issue of not borrowing 
money to solve every problem that happens on our watch," Senator Lindsey 
O. Graham, a South Carolina Republican who serves on the Senate Budget 
Committee, said in an interview. ''We should showcase our willingness to 
govern differently."

But budget cuts are always politically difficult, and this round is 
promising to be no exception. Democrats are gearing up for a battle when 
the budget-cutting proposals are offered, particularly if Medicaid -- 
the healthcare program for the poor -- is targeted for further cuts.

The governors of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi have identified 
Medicaid as perhaps the most important program the federal government 
funds in their region. The dire poverty exposed by the Katrina disaster 
argues for more government help for the poor, not less, said Senator 
John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts. ''It's unconscionable," Kerry 
said. ''A cut to Medicaid pushes more people into poverty. It takes more 
kids off of healthcare. It's moving in the wrong direction for the wrong 
reasons."

The interest in budget cuts comes after conservative House and Senate 
members raised alarms about Katrina spending contributing to a budget 
deficit that is estimated at $330 billion in the fiscal year that ended 
yesterday. The federal government has authorized spending $62 billion on 
Katrina, and some members of Congress have said the final costs could 
approach $200 billion.

The budget agreement reached this spring called for a $10 billion cut in 
Medicaid, but House leaders say they can find more savings by narrowing 
eligibility by lowering the income threshold. In addition, congressional 
leaders say they are looking for ways to minimize pet projects in 
pending spending bills.

http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/10/01/gop_seeks_cuts_to_ease_cost_of_cleanup/
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