Bush's back-door budget cuts...

...is this week's entry on the

WASHINGTON (AP) - Health Secretary Mike Leavitt refused Wednesday to name the states he says are cheating taxpayers out of $40 billion in Medicaid funding, even as senators pressed him for details of President Bush's proposal to force states to curb mismanagement.

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Bush has proposed squeezing Medicaid in part by forcing the states to find $40 billion over a decade by correcting mismanagement on their end. That would lessen the financial pressure on the federal government.

Now, maybe it's just me, but if there's $4 billion a year being skimmed from Medicaid it seems that not only should names be named, but indictments should be issued. But not by Bushco. The new Inquisitor General is busy with a porn case (not involving a certain former White House correspondent) so there's little time to pursue the fraud that they're asserting in the Medicaid program.

Of course, it would be a tough case to pursue, since they don't know who's doing it, or how, or why. They just know it must be happening, because, well, because they really want to spend a lot less money on health care for the poorest, most vulnerable Americans.

They know one thing for sure, though. It's the other guys...

Leavitt has repeatedly refused to name the offending states, except to say Utah wasn't one of them while he was governor.

So this week's Scorecard entry is a you pick 'em...is the Bush Administration lying to cover up the real motivation behind their $40 billion Medicaid cut, or is the Bush Administration covering up for miscreants who are ripping us off for billions of dollars a year?

Either way, it's a scandal.