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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate easily defeated conservative Republicans' efforts to curb the Medicare program's spiraling growth as debate on a $2.9 trillion budget outline for 2008 entered a third day Thursday.
And a vote was likely Friday on a bid by Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., to put lawmakers on record in favor of increasing taxes on tobacco to pay for a big boost in a popular program providing health insurance for children from poor families.
On Medicare, the Senate voted 74-23 to dismiss a proposal by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, to trim $34 billion from the program's $2.2 trillion budget over the next five years. His plan was aimed at reducing payment increases to Medicare providers and was roughly half the size of the cost curbs President Bush proposed in February.
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