What's 100 billion give or take between friends?

[mburbank]

Medicare Cost Hike Stirs Congress Debate

By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - 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 (news - web sites)'s $395 billion estimate.