Posted on 08/22/2002 2:42:06 PM PDT by knuthom
WASHINGTON (AP) - An appeals court threw out efforts to force former Republican National Committee ( news - web sites) chairman Haley Barbour to pay $1 million to a Democratic lawmaker who accused the GOP of cutting Medicare.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit said Barbour's assertion was not false.
Rep. Gene Taylor ( news, bio, voting record), D-Miss., went to court to try to collect the $1 million that Barbour, in an advertisement, promised to give to the first person who could prove the following statement false:
"In November, 1995, the U.S. House and Senate passed a balanced budget bill. It increases total federal spending on Medicare by more than 50 percent from 1995 to 2002, based on figures from the Congressional Budget Office ( news - web sites)."
At the time, Democrats accused the Republicans of trying to cut Medicare benefits by $270 million over seven years.
Some 80 people filed claims for the money, all of which were rejected by the Republican National Committee. But Taylor went to court to try to collect.
An aide to Taylor said he was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
No, they accused Republicans of trying to cut it $270 billion.
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