Coburn, Lieberman Want Medicare Cuts

From The Hill ~ Senators Tom Coburn and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) are pressing the deficit-reduction supercommittee to consider their proposal to cut more than $500 billion in Medicare spending over 10 years.

Lieberman’s support for Medicare reform is significant because he caucuses with Democrats and holds sway with centrist senators such as Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).

Lieberman and Coburn argue that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction cannot adequately deal with the nation’s projected deficits without reforming the healthcare entitlement program.

“Federal spending for Medicare and Medicaid has accounted for a sharply rising share of the federal budget over the last decade, making it clear that it will be virtually impossible to balance our country’s finances without bringing the costs of these programs under control,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter Wednesday to the 12 members of the supercommittee.

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