Senate Dems urge Bush not to retaliate against Medicare actuary

A group of Democratic senators sent a letter Monday to President Bush, asking the administration not to retaliate against a Medicare actuary who has said White House officials pressured him not to share cost estimates of the Medicare bill with members of Congress.

The actuary, Richard Foster, said he had been warned not to respond to certain requests from members of Congress about the cost of the Medicare drug bill, according to published reports.

In the letter, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions ranking member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Jon Corzine, D-N.J., asked Bush to instruct staff not to engage in "unfair and untoward retaliation," as they have toward other critics of the administration.

The senators cited former Treasury Secretary Paul O' Neill and Ambassador Joseph Wilson as such targets.

"It is vital that politics not influence the investigation into Mr. Foster's allegations, which, if substantiated, could constitute significant wrongdoing on the part of some," the letter stated.