President Bush has vowed to veto any changes that lawmakers might make in the Medicare prescription drug law.

By any, the president could mean any of the good ideas on how to control costs – allowing the government to negotiate for lower prices, for example, or allowing the importation of drugs from Canada – or to reduce the price tag by eliminating many of the perks for the pharmaceutical and insurance industries buried in the law. He didn’t target specific ideas with his pronouncement, but his administration’s opposition to efforts by Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, and others, to improve the law are well known.

When it was passed by a reluctant Congress, the prescription drug benefit had a 10-year estimated price tag of $400 billion. Soon after, the White House revised the number up to $530 billion. Last week, it jumped again, to about $1.2 trillion. That number, the administration says, can be cut to $720 billion with offsets.

President Bush, with Congress firmly in the control of his party, has yet to veto a piece of legislation. While his budget seeks to substantially cut funding for programs that help the poor, urban centers and the environment, he’s perfectly willing to let the train wreck of the Medicare drug law continue unabated.

The problems seniors face with paying for prescription drugs have not been solved. Congress has an obligation to make repairs. Lawmakers should not allow the threat of a veto to stop them.