Bush Eager to Sign Medicare Legislation

Ready to sign Medicare reform legislation and hand it to voters, President Bush asked lawmakers to quickly resolve their differences and offer America’s seniors prescription drug coverage for the first time in the program’s 38-year history.

“The Congress must now pass a final bill that makes the Medicare system work better for America’s seniors,” Bush said in his Saturday radio address taped before he arrived at his Texas ranch for the weekend. “This is an issue of vital importance to senior citizens all across our country. They have waited years for a modern Medicare system and they should not have to wait any longer.”

The Medicare bill that the GOP-led Congress is about to pass only resembles Bush’s initial plan, yet if Congress completes it and Bush signs it, the White House likely will get credit. To keep the pressure on Capitol Hill, Bush squeezed a Medicare event with senior citizens in Florida into his fund-raising schedule Monday in Miami and Tampa.

Bush compromised with Democrats who fought cost controls and his own effort to inject competition into Medicare. The backpedaling angered some conservative lawmakers who don’t like to see government benefits programs expanded.

The White House will not say whether Bush prefers the House or Senate versions, but White House press secretary Ari Fleischer suggested the president would sign anything the conference committee produces.

“The president didn’t get everything he wanted in either the House or the Senate bill, but he got much of what he wanted,” he said.

Both houses approved legislation early Friday in sessions that ended after midnight at opposite ends of the Capitol.

Later, the top Republican leaders in Congress dampened talk of a quick compromise on the legislation as they confronted issues ranging from the details of a prescription drug benefit to a dispute over lower-cost generic drugs to proposed free-market measures.

“When health care plans compete for their business, seniors will have better, more affordable options for their health coverage,” Bush said.

“Under the provisions of both the House and Senate bills, seniors who want to stay in the current Medicare system will have that option, plus a new prescription drug benefit,” he said.

Rep. Harold Ford Jr., D-Tenn., used the Democratic radio address on Saturday to criticize the GOP-crafted legislation in the House, saying it would jeopardize Medicare by forcing it to compete with private health plans.