The gift that keeps on giving...

Bush's Medicare scam has been so scandal ridden - vote buying, rule breaking, whistleblower bashing, and of course, just plain lying - that it almost qualifies for a list of its own, but for this week, at least, it's just more fodder for the



The Washington Post provides the ugly truth...

The White House released budget figures yesterday indicating that the new Medicare prescription drug benefit will cost more than $1.2 trillion in the coming decade, a much higher price tag than President Bush suggested when he narrowly won passage of the law in late 2003.

The projections represent the most complete picture to date of how much the program will cost after it begins next year. The expense of the new drug benefit has been a source of much controversy since the day Congress approved it, with Democrats and some Republicans complaining that the White House has consistently low-balled the expected cost to the government.

And the Shadow Speaker makes the appropriate call for investigation and real Medicare reform...

"Congress must have oversight hearings on the Republican Medicare prescription drug law and reopen it to hold down costs and give seniors the true benefits they deserve. We should move immediately to lower the costs of this bill by requiring the government to use the purchasing power of millions of seniors to negotiate lower drug costs. And we should allow the safe reimportation of drugs from Canada and elsewhere."

Sic 'em, Nancy!