MEDICARE WAR . . . YOU CUT FIRST

Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee pressed the Clinton Administration to take the first crack at avolatile Medicare overhaul, but Democrats weren't biting. At a hearing today, Committee chairman Bill Archer (R-Tx.) accused the White House of holding the $175 billion Medicare program "hostage" to its insistence on broader health reforms. But Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, testifying before the panel, fired back by suggesting the GOP was simply exaggerating Medicare's fiscal problems as an excuse to slash $300 billion by 2002 in order to fund tax cuts and balance the budget.