President Bush will veto the recently cleared Medicare bill Tuesday, a senior administration official said Monday on a conference call arranged by the White House.

The administration is unhappy with the Republican senators who voted for the bill July 9, but appears to hold out little hope of being able to sustain the veto, or flip back GOP senators who deserted the president on the controversial measure.

“If everyone votes as they did, we would not be able to sustain this veto,” said Tevi Troy, deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Speaking of the likely override, Troy said, “That is a real problem, but it’s not the Democrats who put us in that position. It’s the nine Republicans” who changed their votes in support of the bill.

Troy’s declaration of the president’s intentions ended speculation that Bush might bow to congressional pressure and sign the bill. Several of the Republicans who voted for the bill have since declared they will vote to override the president’s veto as well.

The House passed the bill, 355-59, on June 24. The Senate passed it by voice vote July 9 after voting 69-30 to overcome a procedural hurdle. Both chambers have more than enough votes to override the president, assuming no members change their votes. In the case of a veto override, the House would vote first.

The measure would replace a scheduled 10.6 percent cut to Medicare’s physician pay rates with 18 months of stable payments. The cost would be offset by cutting bonus payments to private Medicare plans known as Medicare Advantage. Those cuts total $12.5 billion over five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

A House vote on overriding the president’s veto could occur as early as Tuesday, with the Senate acting rapidly afterwards.