AARP Caves to GOP Pressure!

Will Support Lousy Medicare Drug Bill

Republicans consulted the politically potent AARP at key moments in negotiations over a Medicare prescription drug bill - and the group responded Monday with the endorsement the GOP and President Bush wanted to counter Democratic critics.

These Republican officials said Novelli made three demands: more money to entice employers to maintain health benefits for their retirees; a temporary, limited program of competition between traditional Medicare and private insurance plans, and the removal of a Senate provision that AARP said would allow employers to eliminate all health benefits for retirees eligible for Medicare or state health plans.

The compromise negotiators and congressional leaders reached Saturday satisfied AARP on all three.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota told reporters that AARP had "caved in to the pressures" from GOP leaders. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said AARP's leaders "should not be co-opted in Washington, D.C., but they should do the job they are here to do for America's seniors."

In private meetings, Kennedy told Novelli he was undercutting Democrats' attempts to get the best bargain they could, officials said. And Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., one of two Democrats taking part in the talks, told Novelli it was up to Democrats, not AARP, to be negotiating.

In response to Daschle's tart prediction that he would face a revolt within his organization over this bill, Novelli said, "There's not going to be a revolt within AARP. There's going to be a problem if Congress fails to pass this legislation."