The controversy over the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005 is turning into a political issue in the ongoing tug-of-war between Democrats and Republicans in Washington, DC. Two Democratic Congressional representatives have sent a letter to President George W. Bush, asking whether he knew that the legislation was flawed when he signed it into law.
The DRA passed by narrow margins in the Senate and House of Representatives in late 2005 and early 2006, and was signed by the president on February 8. It cuts federal spending by enacting $39 billion in spending cuts across a wide range of government programs, including $2.8 billion in cuts to Medicare reimbursement for imaging services conducted outside hospital settings.
But due to a Senate clerk's error, the Senate and House versions of the bill differ regarding a key provision covering the length of time Medicare will pay for rentals of durable medical equipment. DRA opponents have seized on this discrepancy to attack the legislation as being unconstitutional, and two lawsuits have been filed in recent weeks seeking to overturn the act.
In their letter to Bush, House minority leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) asked the president to explain what he knew about the DRA's flaws when he signed the legislation. They cite a Wall Street Journal article published on March 22 that claims that Senate and House leaders had gone to the White House on February 8 expecting a "mock ceremony" for the signing of the bill. Instead, Bush went ahead and signed the actual legislation.
"It is a basic constitutional principle -- which every child learns in grade school -- that a bill is not a law unless the same version is passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by the President," according to the letter submitted by Pelosi and Waxman. "Yet there is now growing evidence that your actions on February 8 breached this fundamental tenet of our democracy with the full knowledge of high-ranking congressional and White House officials."
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
March 24, 2006
Related Reading
Public Citizen files lawsuit against DRA, March 22, 2006
Alabama lawyer takes on Deficit Reduction Act, March 21, 2006
Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 puts radiology through the grinder, March 3, 2006
Lawsuit takes aim at Deficit Reduction Act, February 21, 2006
Bush signs bill cutting Medicare payments, February 9, 2006
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