Waiting for the White House on Medicare Reform: 809 days
That’s how long it’s been since President Obama was first required by law to submit legislation remedying Medicare’s funding shortfalls. As we previously reported, existing law requires that when the Medicare trustees certify a Medicare funding warning (as they have in every year since 2007), the President has a statutory requirement to propose legislation to Congress within 15 days to remedy the shortfall. President Obama’s first complete budget* was submitted on May 7, 2009, meaning the requirement to submit Medicare reform legislation kicked in on May 22, 2009 — 80[9] days ago.
In that entire time frame, President Obama has submitted ZERO bills to Congress to fix Medicare’s fiscal shortfalls, statutory requirements notwithstanding. Worse yet, the President signed into law a measure (i.e., Obamacare) that diverted more than $500 billion in Medicare savings – not to ensure the solvency of the Medicare program, but to create more new and unsustainable entitlements. The Congressional Budget Office noted that the Medicare provisions in Obamacare “would not enhance the ability of the government to pay for futureMedicare benefits.”
Full Chris Jacobs post here.
This is indeed abominable. But I think you will find that Bush punted as well.
Pitiful.
The way I think this is supposed to work under the 2003 Medicare reform law is that the president is supposed to propose a reform and both Houses are required to give him an up or down vote. This is a rare opportunity and Obama is passing up a major chance to refrom an out-of-control spending program.
I think we will continue to wait for a very long time.