There is an emerging argument by Democrats against repeal of Obamacare… deficit reduction.
As reported by The Hill:
A leading liberal lawmaker said Tuesday Democrats could be open to compromising with Republicans on a “fix” of healthcare reform — but only if congressional budget scorekeepers back off their opinion that the bill cuts the deficit.
Rep. Robert Andrews’s comments on Fox News come as Democrats have been accusing Republicans of being hypocritical for pushing repeal even though it would violate their campaign pledge to tackle the deficit.
“If [Republicans] would make the repeal of the law contingent upon the Congressional Budget Office certifying that it wouldn’t increase the deficit to repeal it,” Andrews (D-N.J.) said, “maybe that is something we could compromise on.”
I saw part of the Andrews’ interview, and it was clear that he was playing games based upon the previous CBO scoring of Obamacare.
As posted here repeatedly, the CBO score was contrived by completely unrealistic assumptions built into the bill which the CBO was required to follow in its scoring. One of those assumptions, that the so-called Doc Fix would not happen, already has been broken.
But, Andrews makes a good point which Republicans should keep in mind. Many Democrats who are loath to defend the merits of Obamacare will grab the mantle of fiscal responsibility and claim they are against repeal because of the deficit.
So among other things, Republicans would be wise not only to attack Obamacare on the merits, but also communicate why the prior CBO scoring was unrealistic.
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Comments
OK, so a dem brainiac leader tells a repub brainiac leader that if the CBO changes an 'opinion' about 'scoring' the theoretical cost of this bill (why don't we have a game of Yahtzee to agree on a number), a bill that was voted and PASSED solely by dems without prior knowledge of what was actually IN THE BILL against the will of a majority of Americans…they'll 'compromise' on a 'fix'?
Dear God, we are led by the incompetent into the abyss. Please deliver us from this modern-day bondage of idiocy, statism and crony-capitalism.
Can anyone identify a 'program' rivaling the size of this undertaking that operates ANYWHERE NEAR original budget 'projections'? Please, spare me your garden-variety type local 'help' program as an example, we're talking about 1/6th of the economy and growing based on our aging demographic.
Too bad the dems can't remember the bleating about the 'Bush' (pronounced by detractors in a spitting-like manner) congress deficits. The amount spent by the 111th congress reportedly matches the total spending of the first 100 congress'!
What a joke. Will we ever learn.
The doc fix would've happened if the bill hadn't passed; the formula predates the ACA. I suppose a better score would be the ACA with a doc fix versus current law with a doc fix, but the CBO doesn't work that way, and the result would've been identical. The absolute cost of Medicare under current law or with the ACA is different if you assume a doc fix, but the difference between the two doesn't change.
"Can anyone identify a 'program' rivaling the size of this undertaking that operates ANYWHERE NEAR original budget 'projections'?"
The CBO actually has a history of underestimating cost savings from changes to Medicare.