I was reading the summary of the trustees' report and noticed this under the Medicare heading:

The Act requires that an affirmative determination in two consecutive reports be treated as a "funding warning" for Medicare that would, in turn, require a Presidential proposal to respond to the warning and expedited Congressional consideration of such proposal. The 2007 Report projects that the difference will surpass 45 percent in 2013 and therefore makes a determination of excess general revenue funding. Because the 2006 report also made such a determination, a "Medicare funding warning" is hereby triggered that requires the President to propose legislation that responds to this warning within 15 days of the submission of the Fiscal Year 2009 budget and for Congress to consider the proposal on an expedited basis. This requirement will help call additional attention to Medicare's impact on the Federal budget.

Was this a back door to gutting Medicare assuming a Republican congress?  What exactly does the trigger and the 'expedited basis' mean?  It sure doesn't sound good.  I dug into US code as best I could. I've looked through the

MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG, IMPROVEMENT, AND MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2003

at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/ getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_public_laws&a mp;docid=f:publ173.108

With the caveat that I have no legal training it looks like it bakes in Senate and House rule changes to facilitate pushing through a proposal for eliminating excess general revenue medicare funding by limiting debate. This is accomplished through overriding House and Senate rules for the purpose of acting on a Presidential proposal to respond to a "Medicare funding warning". The house and the senate can re-override the rule changes, but the existence of the rules in the bill will make it easier for future congresses to force through changes, be they increased taxes or decreased services. I feel this expediting process needs to be removed as soon as possible.