Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has revealed a Social Security proposal which includes private accounts. DeMint's plan is cosponsored by Sen. Santorum (R-PA), Sen. Graham (R-SC), Sen. Crapo (R-ID), and Sen. Coburn (R-OK). The Ways and Means Committee also unveiled a proposal today which is quite similar to the DeMint plan. The name of the committee's plan is GROW, or "Growing Real Ownership for Workers," and it attempts to paint the creation of private accounts as more worker-friendly than they really are. Under the plan, workers could elect to have their share of the Social Security surplus set aside in a personal account. Critics point out it does nothing to solve the issue of solvency, which is unarguably the biggest problem facing Social Security. Rep. Jim Kolbe stated "If it's an attempt to get us off dead center, to move us forward, that's fine. But it doesn't fix the solvency [problem]: You'd have to borrow the money from some place else."

This excellent editorial in the New York Times discusses the conservative push to repeal the estate tax in the Senate. The article says "The mostly Republican supporters of repeal don't have the necessary votes, but are threatening to bring the measure to the floor to force Democrats to vote against it. Democrats, in turn, fear being painted as pro-tax at election time, so would rather broker a compromise than vote against repeal." However, a bad compromise would be worse than no compromise at all. The article notably points out that irresponsible repeal - such as one that had the exemption level at $3.5 million and the taxable rate at 15% - would end up costing the treasury almost as much as full repeal would (87 percent), and thus is just as harmful.

The tough FY 06 budget calls for cuts in most discretionary programs, as well many entitlement programs. Specifically, House and Senate lawmakers have been charged with cutting some $10 billion or more from the Medicaid program. Yesterday, National Governor's Association Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) and Vice Chairman Mike Huckabee (R-AK) presented their proposals for reform. These proposals are intended to provide Congress with a blueprint as lawmakers work to implement legislation to reduce Medicaid spending. The proposals suggest improvements to reduce the cost of prescription drugs by increasing rebates from manufacturers, reforms to the Average Wholesale Price system, policies to increase generic drug use, and tiered copayments. In addition, the NGA plan suggests closing loopholes that allow some people to hide or transfer assets to qualify for Medicaid long-term care benefits, increasing cost-sharing for beneficiaries, and implementing judicial reforms to allow states to "locally manage the optional Medicaid categories." Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, expressed concern about increasing cost-sharing, saying in his opening statement before the committee, "Onerous cost-sharing requirements can harm access to care. While personal responsibility is important, we should not place unduly high barriers to access through changes in cost-sharing." Congress appears to be a long way from agreement on how to go about reforming Medicaid. The governors have long supported efforts to save more money on prescription drugs; to close loopholes that let people shelter assets to qualify for Medicaid-covered nursing home care, and to encourage the purchase of private long-term care insurance. More contentious are proposals to allow states to require patients to pay for more of their care and what the proposal refers to as "judicial reforms" that would shield states from lawsuits when they change Medicaid programs; both of concern to consumers and consumer advocates.

On Tuesday, there was a hearing before the Senate subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security (a subcommittee of Homeland Security) on performance measures and how they are used in the federal budget process. Dr. Beryl Radin, who has worked extensively on PART and other government performance and management issues, testified before members of the committee, specifically Sens. Carper (D-DE) and Coburn (R-OK). Her testimony can be read here.