You know what’s a major government health care program? Medicaid. Everyone knows that! It’s super cheap government health insurance for poor people, of course! One of those liberal “safety nets” for losers, like Medicare is for the Olds. But one state legislator in Texas — he even serves on the health panel — isn’t really sure about this damn thing and wants to know what the hell is even going on. MORE »

The GAO is releasing a report today showing that some Medicaid providers owe $1 billion in back taxes on money paid to them by the federal government. The Senate is holding a hearing, people! Not that this is surprising, since GAO reported last March that Medicare providers also owe $1 billion in back taxes on money they earned from the federal government. Kicking them off the rolls means fewer services for the poor, which is what they’re counting on to scam the IRS. Naturally, no one has been able to figure out how to just withhold their taxes from the payments like how it works for the rest of us workaday schlubs. Different strokes for different folks, people. [Yahoo News, U.S. Senate, GAO]

* Official “How’s Tim Johnson doing?” spokesman Harry Reid says, “Just fine.” [WP]
* Colin Powell faces the nation, calls for new strategy in Iraq that incorporates full withdrawal by 2007. Also notes, “there really are no additional troops” to send to Iraq, so there better be another plan. [WP, NYT]
* Somalia’s Islamist government just dying to get on the wait-list behind Iran and Syria. [WP]
* Newt Gingrich wants to join the has-beens, also-rans, and have-rans in 2008. [WP, NYT]
* Evan Bayh, on the other hand, is happy to watch Obama and Clinton slug it out from the comfort of his living room. [WSJ]
* Administration plans to stiff pharmacies on Medicaid, just to save a lousy $5 billion. [NYT]
* Military espionage program started by Donald Rumsfeld to get “close scrutiny” by Robert Gates. [NYT]
* “I’m gonna get that wascally wabbit!” exclaims Margaret Spellings as PBS’s lesbian-friendly Buster Baxter returns to the air. [NYT]

* Democrats plan to pass what bills they can in the first 100 hours of the new Congress. Other, more complex issues like Iraq, may not be finished in the first 100 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. [WP]
* King Abdullah of Jordan tells George Stephanopoulos, “We’re juggling with the strong potential of three civil wars in the region.” [WP]
* Bipartisan commission today begins debating establishment of diplomatic initiatives with Iran and Syria. [NYT]
* Members of Congress from both parties lament the training standards of Iraqi military and police. [WP]
* President Bush don’t sleep here no more; he just deals with his “funk” over midterms by globetrotting and considering his legacy.[WP, NYT]
* Whither the New England Republican? [NYT]
* Newspaper whose readership is almost entirely Medicaid patients reports that state spending on Medicaid declines for the first time ever. [USAT]

• Business-friendly Felipe Calderón eked out a narrow victory in the Mexican elections. His opponent, López Obrador, promises court action. [WP]

• The Bush administration said it will exempt millions of “vulnerable Medicaid recipients” from having to prove their citizenship to receive benefits. [NYT]
• 121,000 jobs were created in June — below expectations, yet again. The unemployment index remained unchanged, and average hourly earnings rose by eight cents. In the crazy world of economics, that’s bad. [WP]
• Sen. Joe Lieberman and his primary opponent, Ned Lamont, argued mostly about the Iraq war in a debate last night. [WP]
• Larry King did not argue about the war with President Bush last night. [NYT]
• The FBI “uncovered” a “plot” by “jihadists” in Lebanon to attack New York by blowing up the Holland Tunnel and flooding lower Manhattan, in flagrant violation of the laws of physics. [NYDN, NYDN, NYT]

• Delayed discovery of three detainee suicides at Guantanamo Bay raises questions concerning whether regulations for supervision of prisoners were followed. Army general compares the suicides to the 9/11 attacks. [NYT; WP]

• Race between House immigration hawk J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) and Democratic challenger Harry Mitchell is shaping up as a referendum on immigration policy. [WP]
• Immigration issue also complicates Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election bid in California. [WSJ]
• Iran offers initial reaction to Western nuclear proposal; deems some parts acceptable, but offers no specifics. [WP]
• Democrats’ chances of scoring wins in governors’ races may be slipping. [USAT]
• Prominent Democrats schmooze with bloggers at Yearly Kos, reflecting growing clout of netroots. [Time; LAT]

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• Democrats seen to have a better chance to gain governorships than Congress. Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.): “The math is not in our favor this cycle.” Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.): “If we’re going to win in ‘08, strengthening the Democratic party shouldn’t be through Washington, but through the states.” [WSJ]
• GAO finds government credit cards were misused and overcharged in the wake of Katrina. [WP]
• White House press briefings will be held across the street for at least seven months while the briefing room is renovated. [WP]
• Both parties are increasingly running minority candidates. [USAT]
• Adam Kidan takes responsibility for dealings with Jack Abramoff; says he was not duped: “I wish I had never met Jack.” [LAT]
• Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid made up nearly half of the total 2004 budget. [USAT]
• South Dakota tests the boundaries of abortion restrictions. [WP]
• Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) likes ruffling GOP feathers over immigration: “Party I couldn’t care less about. If it gets hurt by this, it deserves to be hurt.” [LAT]
• Military contractors are grinding for a “flattening of the defense budget.” [NYT]
• Administration supports Anna Nicole Smith in Supreme Court case. [WT]

• Military requests $3.9b to prepare Iraqi forces for a reduced American presence; Bush’s “strategy for victory” would rely on a “smaller, more lethal” American force. [NYT]
• Bush: “I want to defeat the terrorists, and I want our troops to come home, but I don’t want them to come home without having achieved victory. . . Quitting is not an exit strategy.” [WP]
• Administration vows to respond to E.U. questions concerning secret CIA prison locations in Europe. [WP]
• Republicans strongly denounce Rep. Randy Cunningham’s conduct in an effort to distance themselves from bribery scandal. [NYT, LAT]
• Businessman under investigation in Cunningham case supported 32 House members or candidates and raised over $100,000 for Bush’s re-election. [USAT, USAT]
• Bush continues promotion of his border security plan; raises $1.3m for Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and $450,000 for Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO). [WP, NYT]
• R. Glenn Hubbard, the former chairman of Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, calls the president’s Medicare plan “unwise”: “The current Social Security and Medicare systems are on an unsustainable path. . . The drug benefit is a new entitlement. This isn’t sustainable over the long haul and I don’t think it’s sustainable even over the next five years.” [WSJ]

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• Second Time magazine reporter is called to testify in leak investigation. [NYT, WSJ]
• Time table for withdrawal from Iraq seems dependent on next month’s Iraqi election and next year’s midterm election. Former administration aide: “We’ve moved from ‘if’ to ‘how fast.’” [NYT]
• Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO) are injured when their vehicle overturns in Iraq. [NYT]
• Advocacy groups target swing senators in fight over Alito’s confirmation. [WP]
• Alito has convinced most senators to support him — “an unusual political feat.” [USAT]
• The Washington Post’s special relationship with Bob Woodward “has sparked some resentment among the staff,” writes Howard Kurtz; criticism of star journalist is spreading. [WP]
• Bush visits Arizona today for speech on illegal immigration that is designed to reassure his conservative base. [WT, WSJ]

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Apparently, the “angry people in wheelchairs” sweeping the Hill today don’t like Pelosi, either. Eyewitnesses place them at her office in Rayburn, chanting “We are people.” Well, they’re clearly not experienced flacks, which would rule out one non-human form of life.

Readers suggest they may be from ADAPT, and if so what they want is “Congress to reform Medicaid the right way: to give us the choice for all long term service and support options including community attendant services and supports.” Which sounds calm enough, but would make a poor slogan.

RELATED: Frist’s Mystery Protesters [Wonkette]

UPDATE: Eyewitness reports: “Long story short: All banners, signs etc. were being confiscated by security. A few people started to raise a stink, but I think they decided it was better to gain access to the building and protest, rather than sit outside. Sorry, no info on what exactly they were protesting.” That is what you call your Faustian bargain there.

UPDATE: Adapt seems like well-meaning group, sort of unclear on communications strategy. Testimonial aftr the jump.

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