From Right Pundits

Senator John McCain (R-AZ), in a flip-flop from previous actions, has opted to introduce a bill that would essentially make Medicare untouchable by reconciliation tactics. John McCain said, during Sunday’s Meet the Press on NBC:

And let me also say that Robert Byrd also in the ’70s exempted Social Security. Social Security cannot be considered in reconciliation. We should do the same thing with Medicare. Lindsay Graham and I will be introducing legislation. Entitlements should not be part of a reconciliation process, i.e., 51 votes. It’s too important.

However, The Huffington Post presents a much different picture of McCain’s new found desire to protest Medicare:

As pointed out by a Democratic source on the Hill, the Arizona Republican has voted for nine out of 13 reconciliation bills that have been offered during his time in the Senate. Of those nine, four included cuts to Medicare.

One of those bills McCain supported was the Balanced Budget Act of 1995 (vetoed by President Clinton) which, as written by the GOP, would have cut Medicare and Medicaid by a combined $452 billion over seven years. In addition, McCain supported the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989, which included Medicare cuts; the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which cut Medicare by $115 billion over five years; and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which also cut Medicare.

“Despite the amendment he offered today to score political points, Senator McCain has supported using reconciliation to cut Medicare throughout his career, as recently as five years ago, on party-line votes, and with massive cuts to Medicare and Medicaid,” the source emails.

John McCain is currently in a race with J.D. Hayworth for Arizona. One must wonder if this new mindset of McCain’s to introduce legislation to protect Medicare isn’t simply his version of “CYA”.