By Donna Smith WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Soaring healthcare costs have been blamed for the grim U.S. budget deficit, which two government reports on Tuesday said could push the national debt to $20 trillion in the next 10 years. Congress is now grappling with President Barack Obama's plan to overhaul the $1 trillion U.S. healthcare system, which Republicans say is too aggressive but which many Democrats say is indispensable.

ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer 11:15 AM PDT, August 6, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is ordering up three Gulfstream jets to fly Pentagon and other top government officials — including members of Congress — around the globe in conditions far cushier than coach class.

By Dan Eggen A group of veteran conservative activists have added their voices to the fight against President Obama's health-care reform efforts, writing in a memo released today that Democratic plans will "bankrupt the country and exacerbate unemployment during these difficult times."
 
The brief, single-page memo is the latest in a series of talking-points documents to emerge as part of the GOP's intensifying attacks on proposed reforms to the health-care system, which many conservatives have begun referring to derisively as "Obamacare."