Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Capitol Hill Watch

House Eliminates Medicare 'Trigger' in Rules Package

      The House on Tuesday voted 242-181 to approve an operating rules package (H Res 5) that eliminates the Medicare trigger, which requires the president to submit a plan to contain Medicare costs if they reach a certain level, CQ Today reports. The trigger was approved as part of the 2003 Medicare law. Under the law, if 45% or more of the program's funding comes from general tax revenues for two consecutive years, the president must submit to Congress legislation that would slow spending over a seven-year period and make the program financially stable. The trigger went into effect for the first time last year.

A one-line item included in the rules package states that the Medicare trigger "shall not apply." In a release accompanying the package, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the trigger is "an ideologically driven target based on a misleading measure of Medicare's financial health." Hoyer's office said that eliminating the trigger "will allow Congress to consider all options for improving Medicare financing to provide a balanced and equitable solution" (Armstrong, CQ Today, 1/6).