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Medicare Reform Estimate Balloons
Aired January 30, 2004 - 15:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Vote now, pay later? That's always the risk on Capitol Hill. But today, quite a few lawmakers from both parties are furious over a huge upward revision in the estimated cost of reforming Medicare. And by huge, we're talking $135 billion on top of the old estimate of $400 billion.
CNN's Dana Bash takes account of the numbers game at the White House.
And this would melt down most calculators, wouldn't it, Dana?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Certainly mine, Miles.
And let's take a look at the numbers, because the Congressional Budget Office is actually still projecting that the cost of the Medicare prescription drug plan will be $400 billion over 10 years. It is the new White House estimate that is saying that they think it could be between $530 billion and $540 billion over 10 years, probably about $535.
That is what is sending shockwaves from here all the way to Philadelphia, where Republican lawmakers are meeting, or retreating, over these couple of days. And we're hearing from sources there that they are certainly not very happy about this at all. Conservative Republicans, many of them, particularly in the House of Representatives, voted for this prescription drug benefit, even though many of them thought that it was creating what they call the new big government program, a new entitlement.
But they said that they were told that this wouldn't balloon, that the numbers would not go up. Now, the White House says today that they did not intentionally mislead anybody. The president said he didn't see the new numbers until just a few weeks ago.
Here's what he said his reaction was when he saw them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I asked two questions to the estimators. One, does the Medicare reform do what we want it to do, still, which is to provide modern medicine for our seniors and to introduce competition, which will eventually hold down costs of Medicare? And, secondly, did the new estimate of Medicare costs fulfill my promise to reduce the deficit in half over a five- year period of time?
(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Now, it's important to note that nobody here at the White House or in Congress is suggesting that this new price tag will force anybody to alter the new benefit.
But what is at issue is the budget deficit. The president is already under fire from conservatives because of the really large budget deficit. In fact, the White House, in their new budget on Monday, is going to say that this year's is a record $520 billion, according to sources. And the president, as you heard, is saying that Congress must do its job in order to stop the government spending. He really put the onus on Congress today, Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Dana Bash at the White House tonight, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 30, 2004 - 15:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Vote now, pay later? That's always the risk on Capitol Hill. But today, quite a few lawmakers from both parties are furious over a huge upward revision in the estimated cost of reforming Medicare. And by huge, we're talking $135 billion on top of the old estimate of $400 billion.
CNN's Dana Bash takes account of the numbers game at the White House.
And this would melt down most calculators, wouldn't it, Dana?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Certainly mine, Miles.
And let's take a look at the numbers, because the Congressional Budget Office is actually still projecting that the cost of the Medicare prescription drug plan will be $400 billion over 10 years. It is the new White House estimate that is saying that they think it could be between $530 billion and $540 billion over 10 years, probably about $535.
That is what is sending shockwaves from here all the way to Philadelphia, where Republican lawmakers are meeting, or retreating, over these couple of days. And we're hearing from sources there that they are certainly not very happy about this at all. Conservative Republicans, many of them, particularly in the House of Representatives, voted for this prescription drug benefit, even though many of them thought that it was creating what they call the new big government program, a new entitlement.
But they said that they were told that this wouldn't balloon, that the numbers would not go up. Now, the White House says today that they did not intentionally mislead anybody. The president said he didn't see the new numbers until just a few weeks ago.
Here's what he said his reaction was when he saw them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I asked two questions to the estimators. One, does the Medicare reform do what we want it to do, still, which is to provide modern medicine for our seniors and to introduce competition, which will eventually hold down costs of Medicare? And, secondly, did the new estimate of Medicare costs fulfill my promise to reduce the deficit in half over a five- year period of time?
(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Now, it's important to note that nobody here at the White House or in Congress is suggesting that this new price tag will force anybody to alter the new benefit.
But what is at issue is the budget deficit. The president is already under fire from conservatives because of the really large budget deficit. In fact, the White House, in their new budget on Monday, is going to say that this year's is a record $520 billion, according to sources. And the president, as you heard, is saying that Congress must do its job in order to stop the government spending. He really put the onus on Congress today, Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Dana Bash at the White House tonight, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
