Obama Opens Summit Pledges 15B For Medicaid 2009: Calling Fiscal

Obama opens summit pledges 15B for Medicaid

Calling for fiscal restraint even while federal spending soars, President Barack Obama summoned allies, adversaries and outside experts to a White House summit Monday
to address skyrocketing budget deficits and announced $15 billion in Medicaid money to states from his $787 billion economic stimulus package. “As we take the steps that we must to get through the crisis we’re in now, we will not lose sight of the long-term,” Vice President Joe Biden said as he opened the event. Obama’s No. 2 promised that the administration would be frank with the public about budget challenges, though he also said there was a need to reform the nation’s health care system and wean the United States off heavy reliance on foreign oil. The summit came one week after the president signed into law the gargantuan stimulus measure designed to stop the country’s economic free fall and, ultimately, reverse the recession now months into its second year. The new law is certain to add to this fiscal year’s deficit, which the administration projects will be $1.5 trillion. Obama led the summit to address the nation’s future financial health after meeting with Republican and Democratic governors who are poised to benefit from his unprecedented emergency spending-and-tax cut measure. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below. WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Barack Obama promised quick help for strapped Medicaid programs Monday as he brought in advisers and adversaries to discuss keeping entitlement programs from exploding the federal deficit. Obama’s summit at the White House, which was coming at close of a three-day meeting of the nation’s governors, was the first such forum of his young presidency designed specifically to get at problems threatening the long-term fiscal health of the nation. It came as Obama gets ready to disclose ambitious plans to slash the federal deficit in half within four years.
Even before it began, some of its 130 invited White House conference participants cautioned against overinflated expectations.

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