US Senate tie-break vote on Rx plan

The US Senate has voted for a Republican amendment to the fiscal 2002budget resolution which would permit spending on Medicare reform and a prescription drug benefit of up to $300 billion over 10 years. However, this would be dependent on the Senate Finance Committee reporting a bill, and that this amount would be no higher that the estimate contained in the new proposal expected from President George W Bush.

The Senate vote was actually tied 50-50, but Vice President Dick Cheney used his tie-breaking vote to pass the amendment, which was proposed by Senate Finance Committee chairman Charles Grassley.

An amendment to the budget resolution proposed by the Democrats failed, also on a tied vote. This would have reduced Pres Bush's proposed $1,600 billion tax cut by about 10%, and increased Medicare spending from $153 billion to $311 billion.