By Alabama Public Radio
Washington, DC – U-S Senator Jeff Sessions says he was not pleased to hear new cost estimates for a prescription drug benefit for Medicare. He says when Congress passed the proposal, the Bush administration estimated its cost to be about 400 billion dollars. Now, the White House says the cost could reach 720 billion. Sessions says lawmakers may need to reconsider the issue and develop a system that will stay within the budget numbers that were originally projected. Sessions says there just isn't enough money to afford the higher cost projections. Democratic and Republican lawmakers are complaining about the new numbers. But White House officials say the new estimate shouldn't be a surprise. They say it includes costs for an extra two years that were not included in the original time frame.