Why the CBO’s latest numbers on the House version of ObamaCare are a joke

Kevin Glass explains:

[…] Analysis from the Congressional Budget Office has pegged the “new” plan at $940 billion and includes eye-popping deficit reduction numbers.

There’s chatter from Capitol Hill is that some Democrats are going to use the second-decade deficit reduction numbers as a justification to vote for the bill. These numbers claim deficit reduction “up to $1.2 trillion.”

What’s not noted is the heaps and heaps of qualifications that the CBO has repeatedly put on their second-decade numbers. This includes phrases such as “a detailed year-by-year projection… would not be meaningful because the uncertainties involved are simply too great” and “the legislation would maintain and put into effect a number of procedures that might be difficult to sustain over a long period of time.”

Basically the CBO is saying that there’s no way Congress can actually enact many of the Obamacare provisions that Democrats claim they’re going to. But the CBO is forced to grade the bill as it’s written. […]

Plus, from page 1 of the CBO report:

β€œAlthough CBO completed a preliminary review of legislative language prior to its release, the agency has not thoroughly examined the reconciliation proposal to verify its consistency with the previous draft. This estimate is therefore preliminary, pending a review of the language of the reconciliation proposal, as well as further review and refinement of the budgetary projections.”

Ed Morrissey and Allahpundit have more on the CBO’s numbers as well as the smoke and mirrors scheme behind the Democrats’ attempts at putting a price tag on it all.

Senator Kyl:

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl released a statement going after the rising price tag of the bill, which was less than $900 billion when it went through the House and the Senate the first time.

β€œEvery time a new iteration of the Democrats’ health-care bill is unveiled, the price tag goes up,” Kyl said. “The only thing that remains the same is that the American taxpayer will be on the hook to pay for it.”

Yep.

Keep melting the phones. Keep emailing. (House linkSenate link)

Comments are closed.