BIPARTISANSHIP, REPUBLICAN-STYLE

Senate Budget Committee chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) blinked today, announcing that Republicans want to create a bipartisan congressional commission to work out the details of theirpolitically-sensitive plan to balance the budgetwithin seven years. The tactic, announced a day before House and Senate GOP leaders are due to unveil their respective budget cut proposals, is an attempt to draw Democrats into a potentially-explosive budget process that may include up to$300 million in Medicare cuts. Also today, Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), chairman of the Ways and Means health subcommittee, advocated raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67 in the next century, in tandem withSocial Security. It would be "crazy," said Thomas, to grant people Medicare benefits two years before they can collect full Social Security. Raising the age would leave many people in that age group uninsured or underinsured during a vulnerable period of their lives.