WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate refused Thursday to back nearly $14 billion in Bush administration proposed cuts in Medicaid.
Amid a host of final vote on the 2006 budget resolution, the Senate adopted an amendment from Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., to eliminate the cuts.
Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, failed in his attempt to derail the proposal after failing to gain the support of seven Republican moderates who backed the move.
The House version of the resolution, which was approved Thursday afternoon by a party line vote of 218 to 214, includes proposed cuts in the program.
The move is likely to derail attempts at finding a House-Senate compromise budget, which works as a blueprint for the annual appropriations process.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, predicted Tuesday that if the cuts were made in the Senate bill, the chambers were unlikely to agree on a final measure.
