Trying to deflect criticism that the 2005 budget will be more than a half trillion dollars in deficit, the White House is accusing Congress of lying about the full costs of the prescription drug coverage Bush signed into law last December, according to the New York Times (free registration required). In response, “Democrats said Congress should investigate the discrepancy to find out when the administration first realized that the bill might cost [$140 billion] more than the $400 billion sum proposed by Mr. Bush early last year.” (How much were the budget discrepancies that caused Enron executives to be sentenced to jail last month?)
Meanwhile, the Washington Post notes that the White House’s budget includes no additional funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan beyond Sept. 30. “These numbers are not real,” said [Thomas] Kahn, of the House Budget Committee. “The real numbers are that we’re headed toward far bigger deficits as far as the eye can see. He’s taken a bad situation and made it really bad.”
