May 12, 2007 4:20PM 

# Budget Bravado 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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> In a letter to lawmakers, the president’s budget director, Rob Portman, …accused Democrats of doing little to rein in “the unsustainable growth in entitlement spending” on Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare \[[reports the Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/11/AR2007051102164.html?hpid=sec-business)\].

Well, they did almost all oppose the trillion-dollar expansion of Medicare in 2003 that [then-Rep. Portman voted for](http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2003/roll669.xml) and that [President Bush bludgeoned reluctant Republicans](http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RobertDNovak/2003/11/27/hammering_fellow_republicans) into supporting.

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

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