Last Thursday, the House passed a $2.7 trillion 2007 budget that did not include the Medicare and Medicaid cuts and health savings account incentives President Bush had proposed, according to an Associated Press story. House legislators passed the budget only after conservatives agreed to moderates’ demands for an additional $3.1 billion in funding for health and education programs, which represents a 2% increase in spending for those programs. Bush had initially proposed a $4 billion cut in spending for labor, health, and education. Yet The New York Times calls the House’s budget approval “more symbolic than substantive,” because the House is unlikely to reconcile its budget with the one the Senate has already passed.
