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CNN Saturday Morning News
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Aired January 31, 2004 - 08:06 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush submits his new budget to Congress on Monday. Don't expect a warm reception, some would say. The mood on Capitol Hill turned sour this week when the White House dramatically revised the cost of Medicare reform.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joining us now with the details on this.
These numbers are a little higher than expected.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely, Heidi. And you may recall this was really a huge victory for the Bush administration to push through this Medicare bill, this reform bill, even passing the House by only five votes. But that was only after the White House convinced fiscally conservative Republicans that the administration could afford it.
Now, here's a, here are the figures that they had mentioned before. They said the 10 year plan would cost nearly $400 billion. That was the estimate given by the Congressional Budget Office. Now the White House Office of Management and Budget estimates that it's going to cost nearly 30 percent more. That is around $535 billion.
Now, White House officials say they didn't intentionally mean to mislead Congress, President Bush yesterday saying that he only found out about this figure two weeks ago. But he is putting the onus on Congress to adjust.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Congress is now going to have to work with us to make sure that we set priorities and are fiscally wise with the taxpayers' money. I'm confident they can do that if they're willing to make tough choices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, there are some Republican law makers who are quite upset about this. They look at the federal deficit at $520 billion and say this isn't acceptable. There are Democrats who are looking at this, as well, and simply saying that they believe they need to reopen the legislation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Had everyone known it would be $534 billion, we, it may have caused a few other members of Congress to not get on board. And that would have been helpful, frankly, to those of us who didn't want to see it pass.
SEN. THOMAS DASCHLE (D-SD), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The problem is that they're off by over 35 percent in the first year. That's phenomenal. Even government doesn't make a mistake that big most of the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, Heidi, Monday President Bush is going to be presenting his new budget to Congress and is not likely to make Democrats or Republicans all that satisfied. The Democrats believe that the war in Iraq essentially is robbing domestic programs of their well needed resources and Republicans certainly aren't happy with that record breaking deficit, $520 billion -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so 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 31, 2004 - 08:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush submits his new budget to Congress on Monday. Don't expect a warm reception, some would say. The mood on Capitol Hill turned sour this week when the White House dramatically revised the cost of Medicare reform.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joining us now with the details on this.
These numbers are a little higher than expected.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely, Heidi. And you may recall this was really a huge victory for the Bush administration to push through this Medicare bill, this reform bill, even passing the House by only five votes. But that was only after the White House convinced fiscally conservative Republicans that the administration could afford it.
Now, here's a, here are the figures that they had mentioned before. They said the 10 year plan would cost nearly $400 billion. That was the estimate given by the Congressional Budget Office. Now the White House Office of Management and Budget estimates that it's going to cost nearly 30 percent more. That is around $535 billion.
Now, White House officials say they didn't intentionally mean to mislead Congress, President Bush yesterday saying that he only found out about this figure two weeks ago. But he is putting the onus on Congress to adjust.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Congress is now going to have to work with us to make sure that we set priorities and are fiscally wise with the taxpayers' money. I'm confident they can do that if they're willing to make tough choices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, there are some Republican law makers who are quite upset about this. They look at the federal deficit at $520 billion and say this isn't acceptable. There are Democrats who are looking at this, as well, and simply saying that they believe they need to reopen the legislation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Had everyone known it would be $534 billion, we, it may have caused a few other members of Congress to not get on board. And that would have been helpful, frankly, to those of us who didn't want to see it pass.
SEN. THOMAS DASCHLE (D-SD), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The problem is that they're off by over 35 percent in the first year. That's phenomenal. Even government doesn't make a mistake that big most of the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, Heidi, Monday President Bush is going to be presenting his new budget to Congress and is not likely to make Democrats or Republicans all that satisfied. The Democrats believe that the war in Iraq essentially is robbing domestic programs of their well needed resources and Republicans certainly aren't happy with that record breaking deficit, $520 billion -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so 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
