Bush Presses on with Medicare Despite Iraq Costs

[Khephra]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Reuters) - President Bush renewed his call on Tuesday for a Medicare drugs benefit as congressional negotiators agreed on a temporary discount card to help the elderly pay for their medicines until a full-scale program is introduced.

House and Senate negotiators in Washington, meeting for the first time since July, approved creating a Medicare-endorsed drug discount card that backers predict could save seniors 15 to 25 percent on their prescriptions.

Poor people would get up to $600 a year extra to subsidize drugs under the program, expected to last just a year or two until a more comprehensive program goes into effect -- if lawmakers manage to overcome a myriad of differences and approve a final Medicare drug compromise.

Bush urged Congress to persevere on the Medicare overhaul, which would cost $400 billion over 10 years, even as the federal budget faces new strains from his request for $87 billion in emergency spending in Iraq.

more...

http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=3415602

[stickdog]

1. Tax cuts for the rich don't stop billions for defense contractors,

oil giants and big pharmies.

No siree. Just put that on the credit card and charge it to America's bleak future.

[MGKrebs]

2. Classic.

Bush gets to look good by making the Congress defeat this. This will go nowhere this year.

Oh, and that $15 Billion for AIDS aid in Africa? Forget it. They are talking out of both sides of their mouths- but we only hear one side. The other is whispered. The ability to do this requires a forked tongue.