GOP targets Lew over Medicare spending

Senate Republicans took aim at Jack Lew on Friday over the Obama administration's failure to respond to warnings about Medicare spending.

Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee questioned whether Lew — President Obama's nominee to lead the Treasury Department — had a role in the White House's response to warnings about Medicare's solvency.

"The question must be asked: What role did Lew have in the decision to ignore the legal requirement to address Medicare’s funding imbalance?" Budget Committee Republicans asked Friday.

Whenever the Medicare trustees issue a warning about Medicare's finances as part of their annual report on the program, the president is legally required to send Congress a proposal for curbing Medicare's spending. 

Obama hasn't issued those proposals in response to the trustees' reports, although his annual budget proposals have outlined hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare savings.

Lew, who is now White House chief of staff, would become chairman of the Medicare trustees if he is confirmed to lead Treasury. Republicans said he was responsible for meeting the requirements of the Medicare warning in his earlier role as White House budget director.

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