Some Republicans, including the head of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, have expressed opposition to President Bush’s proposed Medicaid cuts.

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) said recently he would call for a commission to examine Medicaid to generate more bipartisan proposals about how to curb the growing costs of the program. Smith became chairman of the Special Committee on Aging this year.

Other Republicans also said they are worried. “There is widespread concern about what is being asked in the nature of these cuts,” said Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), in a story in the New York Times last week. Coleman reportedly made his remarks last Thursday as the Senate Budget Committee passed a budget resolution for 2006.

The Senate committee’s budget includes $14 billion in reductions in projected Medicaid spending over the next five years. Bush’s proposal calls for trimming $60 billion from Medicaid over 10 years.