President Bush has threatened to veto budget legislation that does not include his drastic spending cuts. Bush said his intent is to reduce the deficit by half by fiscal year 2009.

Last week, the House failed to vote on its resolution that leaves out Bush’s proposed reductions for Medicare and Medicaid. The bill still calls for $6.8 billion in spending reductions and includes an $873 billion cap on discretionary spending that Bush asked for in his blueprint.

The Senate passed its budget resolution last month. It would add more than $16 billion to the discretionary spending cap and excludes scale backs to Medicare and Medicaid. Nursing home advocates have praised the House and the Senate for resisting cuts to these programs.