GOP Congress? What GOP Congress?

Medicare spending is out of control, everyone knows it. One would expect, then, that the GOP-controlled Senate would take steps to curb this. After all, the GOP is supposed to be the party of limited government, right? Apparently not. When President Bush proposes a 1% budget reduction, not to cut Medicade but to attempt to curb its exploding growth, the supposedly conservative Senate slaps him down. Whither the conservatives?