Tue May 18,12:23 AM ET Add Politics - U. S. Congress to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers filed a federal lawsuit Monday in an effort to force the Bush administration to turn over estimates of the cost of last year's Medicare legislation.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, hometown of Rep. Henry Waxman, one of 19 Democrats challenging the administration's refusal to provide the documents.
They are relying on a 1928 law that they assert enables seven lawmakers who serve on the same committee to obtain information from the administration.
Bill Pierce, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services (news - web sites), said the lawsuit was politically motivated.
HHS said last month that Democrats have no right to review its estimates that the Medicare overhaul would cost substantially more than the amount disclosed last year by President Bush (news - web sites) and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson.
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&ncid=718&e=10&u=/ap/20040518/ap_on_go_co/medicare_costs