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ACTION ALERT!! Stop Drastic Medicaid Cuts"> From the National Council on Independent Living,http://www.ncil.org/Urge Your Senators To Support -Bingaman Amendment toBudget Resolution to Avoid Drastic Medicaid CutsThe Budget Committees of the US Senate and House ofRepresentatives have approved budget resolutions that wouldforce more drastic reductions in Medicaid funding thanthose proposed by the Bush Administration's 2006 Budget.Although the Congressional Budget Office estimated the netreductions in Medicaid spending proposed by the BushAdministration at $7.6 billion over the next five years,the budget resolutions reported out of committee propose todrastically increase these funding reductions. In theHouse, the Budget Resolution would require the Energy andCommerce Committee to make legislative changes that wouldreduce Medicaid spending by $15-20 billion over the nextfive years. The Senate Budget Resolution would require theSenate Finance Committee to make $15 billion in reductionsover the next five years.If both the House and Senate pass their initial budgetresolutions with the current reconciliation instructions,then legislation that would remove $15-20 billion inMedicaid funding over the next five years would becomevirtually inevitable.THE SMITH-BINGAMAN AMENDMENTUS Senators have an alternative: they can support thebipartisan -Bingaman Amendment to the Senate BudgetResolution. The -Bingaman Amendment would remove thereconciliation instructions requiring $15 billion in cutsand replace it with a provision to create a bipartisancommission that would recommend ways to improve theefficiency and effectiveness of the Medicaid program.NCIL calls upon the US Senate to approve the -BingamanAmendment, to ensure that good policy rather than arbitrarycuts drives changes within the Medicaid program. The Senatemay vote upon this amendment as early as Tuesday, March 15!ACTION STEPSEspecially if your Senators are identified in the belowlist of "Key Senators," please call their offices, let themknow that you are an advocate from the disability rightscommunity and urge them to support the -BingamanAmendment. Remind them that making decisions based on goodpolicy rather than arbitrary budgetary limits is in thebest interest of persons with disabilities and others whoare Medicaid beneficiaries.For those who cannot afford long-distance calls, thefollowing 1-800 hotlines that have been set up by variousadvocacy organizations will connect you with the CapitolHill switchboard. At that point, you would ask the operatorto connect you with your Senator's office.Hotlines that you can use include 1-800-828-0498 or 1-800-247-2971.Please feel free to pass this alert on to your advocacynetworks.If you are having difficulty getting through to yourSenators' offices, please send an e-mail throughwww.congress.org or FAX their office (if the number islisted).If you get indications of how any of the "key senators" arelikely to vote, please e-mail daniel@... andgwen@....KEY SENATORSWhile advocates in all 50 states should contact theirSenators, based on the information we have, it isespecially important that advocates contact the followingSenators to let them know how important it is to theirconstituents that they support this crucial amendment:Evan Bayh (D-IN) Burr (R-NC)Tom Carper (D-DE)Lincoln Chafee (R-RI)Thad Cochran (R-MS)Norm (R-MN) (R-ME)Kent Conrad (D-ND) Cornyn (R-TX)Mike DeWine (R-OH) Graham (R-SC)Chuck Hagel (R-NE)ny Isakson (R-GA)Kay Hutchison (R-TX) Landrieu (D-LA) McCain (R-AZ) Murkowski (R-AK)Ben (D-NE)Bill (D-FL)Mark Pryor (D-AR)Rick Santorum (R-PA)Jeff Sessions (R-AL)Olympia Snowe (R-ME)Arlen Specter (R-PA)Ted s (R-AK) Voinovich (R-OH)