The Senate Finance Committee, after days of deliberation, agreed today to $10 billion in Medicare and Medicaid cuts, to take place over the next five years. The cuts will come primarily from Medicare, as the measure would cut $18.6 billion from the Medicare and $7.7 billion from Medicaid. It also, however, would boost spending on various Medicaid and Medicare programs. They will markup the measure early on Monday, which will pave the way for the bill to be included in the Senate Budget Committee's reconciliation package, slated to be put together October 26.

As speculated earlier today on the Budget Blog, the House GOP leadership has pulled an expected amendment to the budget resolution from Thursday's floor schedule. There is no indication currently if this is simply a delay or a cancelation of the amendment. Either way, it shows that both the GOP leadership and the conservative Republican Study Committee do not have the influence necessary to push through more drastic cuts to low-income entitlement programs in the new political enviornment post-Katrina.

Be sure to read the lastest edition of the OMB Watcher. The budget and tax articles in this edition include: Republicans Use Katrina To Push For More Drastic Cuts Congress Mistakenly Focusing On Katrina Spending As Top Fiscal Danger President's Tax Panel Hints at its Forthcoming Recommendations Study Adds Voice of Low-Income Americans to Debate Over Economic Divide

CongressDaily reported this morning that House GOP leaders have decided to drop plans for now to include across-the-board cuts to FY 2006 discretionary spending as part of an amendment to the budget resolution which was passed last April. Although across-the-board cuts have been dropped, the amendment is still expected to call for $50 billion in entitlement cuts, which is an increase from the $35 billion designated in the original FY06 budget blueprint. This amendment could be on the floor as early as Thursday. The cuts were dropped partly because of the belief that committing so soon to them would hamper negotiations with the Senate on FY06 spending bills, said GOP Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce of Ohio. The Senate does not have plans to consider a similar budget amendment, and members are currently focused on the reconciliation process, which begins today. Senate Republicans are looking for additional budget cuts, but the Finance Committee, last night, was unable to coalesce around a plan to cut at least $10 billion from the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The deadline for the committee to finish work on the package is quickly approaching, and because Finance Committee rules require 48 hours' notice before a markup can take place, Grassley has convened a meeting this morning in the hopes of reaching an agreement. The Budget Committee is supposed to mark up a reconciliation bill incorporating bills from all committees by Oct. 26. If they do not do so, it could open the door to procedural hang-ups, and according to Finance Committee ranking member Max Bauuus (D-MT), "presumably any senator could offer a motion to recommit." Also on Monday, Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-IA) acknowledged that the committee might not be able to produce enough revenue-raising offsets to extend all tax cuts expiring this year under the budget reconciliation process. He did insist, however, that Congress would be able to pass a tax cut reconciliation package this fall, saying, "We can do the $70 billion without any problem."