Somebody must have put the voicebox from a Barbie into their flightsuit action figure.

Math is hard.

Bush administration officials said Sunday that Congress had grossly underestimated the cost not only for prescription drug benefits, but also for private health insurance plans that would be offered to elderly people under the new Medicare law.

When President Bush signed the legislation on Dec. 8, the Congressional Budget Office said it would cost $395 billion in the decade from 2004 to 2013. On Thursday, the White House put the cost at $534 billion.

Mr. Bush will try to explain the difference when he submits his budget to Congress on Monday.

The budget is expected to show a record deficit of more than a half-trillion dollars in 2004, up from $375 billion last year. But the president says his policies will reduce the deficit to $364 billion in 2005 and to $237 billion by 2009, fulfilling his vow to cut the deficit in half in five years.

Administration officials said that Mr. Bush's budget would not include the costs of the Iraq war. Nor, they said, would it include the costs of restructuring the alternative minimum tax, estimated at more than $162 billion over five years.

I think I see the problem. The little dash thing is a minus.

Glad I could help.