The Washington Post reports on “possible common ground” between Obama and congressional Republicans on cutting Medicare costs:
In particular, participants say, the president told House Republicans that he was open to combining Medicare’s coverage for hospitals and doctor services….Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the No. 2 House Republican, proposed much the same in a speech in February.
….While Mr. Cantor’s proposal got little attention at the time, its echo by Mr. Obama hints at a new route toward compromise — in contrast with the budget that House Republicans passed this month that has no chance of Senate approval.
That sounds like a mighty small area of agreement to me. Any port in a storm, I suppose, but it’s a little hard to see how this leads to any kind of larger bargain.