Healthcare bill to cut deficit by $130 billion

[spike]

Democrats are lauding a CBO report that found their healthcare package will cut the deficit by $130 billion.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) hailed the figures from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office during a meeting with a group of reporters on Thursday morning and said the House would vote on Sunday.

He said House Democrats had crafted a bill that would amount to the largest deficit reduction package in more than 15 years.

“We think the numbers are now pretty well set from CBO,” Hoyer said. “We think it will post the largest deficit reduction of any bill that we’ve adopted in the Congress since 1993.”

CBO told lawmakers that the health package would cost $940 billion over the next decade, reducing the deficit by $130 billion. It will reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion in the second decade of the plan's implementation, according to those who have seen the score.

That's a larger deficit reduction than the healthcare measures passed by both the House and the Senate last year, though the CBO said the current bill would spend more than those bills.

An official score from the budget office is expected around noon, but reports about the findings were leaked to the press before the formal release.

"We are absolutely giddy" about the score, Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said during an interview on Fox News on Thursday. About the deficit-reduction figures, he added, "This is great news for the American people."

Hoyer said the CBO score will show the final bill reducing the deficit by over $1 trillion over the second decade of its implementation.

House and Senate Republicans dismissed the positive budget estimate. Following a closed-door meeting of both chambers' GOP members, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said they would work to defeat the legislation in the House.

"They can tweak this thing, and still it's a trillion dollars they're going to spend," Boehner said.

Democrats have been waiting for the CBO score for days, and several undecided lawmakers have said the CBO findings will influence their votes. Leaders need 216 members of their caucus to support the healthcare package for it to win passage.

The package considered by the CBO is the Senate healthcare bill and a package of changes to that legislation that must receive votes from the House and Senate.

House leaders are considering the use of a controversial rule that would "deem" the Senate bill as having been passed without an actual roll-call vote on the measure.

The process would send the Senate healthcare bill to President Barack Obama, with the package of changes to the bill going to a vote in the Senate under budget reconciliation rules to prevent a GOP filibuster.

Hoyer said the amendments to the Senate healthcare bill — which, along with student loan legislation, make up the reconciliation bill — have been projected to reduce the deficit by $120 billion in the first 10 years, outpacing the $100 billion estimate of the original bill.

The release of the CBO score sets into motion a 72-hour endgame on healthcare. Leaders have said they will give members 72 hours to review the legislation before a vote.

House Republicans are set to offer a measure Thursday that seeks to force and up-or-down vote on the Senate healthcare bill.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...ackage-costs-940-billion-cuts-deficit-by-130b

 

[catocom]

Healthcare Bill, to spend 1 trillion dollars in the next 20 years!

All the numbers are BS on this, at this point.
The CBO has been bought. They haven't much credibility anymore with me personally.

 

[spike]

Healthcare Bill, to spend 1 trillion dollars in the next 20 years!

"Hoyer said the CBO score will show the final bill reducing the deficit by over $1 trillion over the second decade of its implementation."

All the numbers are BS on this, at this point.
The CBO has been bought.

What evidence do you have that the numbers are BS or that the CBO has been bought?

 

[ResearchMonkey]

Because it's the federal Gov't. /thread

 

[spike]

That would be an example of something that is not evidence. I'm going to stick with the facts.

 

[ResearchMonkey]

The Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that there is currently no official cost estimate. Double counting etc., they haven't even seen the amendments.

Really, you need to quit believing all the "facts" fed to you. omnom nom nom

 

[catocom]

What evidence do you have that the numbers are BS or that the CBO has been bought?

I'll get back to you on this question.
It's a WIP ATM.

 

[spike]

The Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that there is currently no official cost estimate.

CBO score is out.

Really, you need to quit believing all the "facts" fed to you. omnom nom nom

Really? Maybe we should ignore the facts and nom nom up some made believe crap instead. I hear some people prefer the fantasy world lately. I'm not into it though.

 

[spike]

I'll get back to you on this question.
It's a WIP ATM.

So you just typed something "the numbers are BS" and "the CBO has been bought" without anything at all to back it up?

That doesn't seem like a logical way to evaluate things.

 

[MrBishop]

The CBO has been bought. They haven't much credibility anymore with me personally.

Who? These people?
Honorable John A. Boehner
Republican Leader
Honorable John M. Spratt Jr.
Chairman
Committee on the Budget
Honorable Paul Ryan
Ranking Member
Honorable Harry Reid
Senate Majority Leader
Honorable Mitch McConnell
Senate Republican Leader
Honorable Kent Conrad
Chairman
Senate Committee on the Budget
Honorable Judd Gregg
Ranking Member

 

[valkyrie]

I'm skeptical. I'll wait until everything has been voted on and is in practice before I toss the confetti.

 

[ResearchMonkey]

Although 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.

.

 

[catocom]

So you just typed something "the numbers are BS" and "the CBO has been bought" without anything at all to back it up?

That doesn't seem like a logical way to evaluate things.

nope, there's backup on the way.
Stay tuned.

 

[spike]

What are we waiting on?

Usually you can't make the claim unless you already have the evidence.

 

[ResearchMonkey]

We've already deemed that demmie's are commies. It is so.

 

[spike]

Sure, and the repubees are fascists. Oh my.

Now on to a more thoughtful line of discussion.

 

[ResearchMonkey]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional budget scorekeepers say a Medicare fix that Democrats included in earlier versions of their health care bill would push it into the red.

 

[Dave]

CBO told lawmakers that the health package would cost $940 billion over the next decade, reducing the deficit by $130 billion. It will reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion in the second decade of the plan's implementation, according to those who have seen the score.

Ok...so we spend nearly a trillion dollars to save 130 billion over 10 years. That in itself doesn't sound like a very good idea. Plus I would like to know what crystal ball they are using to be able to determine financial outlooks over a 20 year period on spending that hasn't even started yet. What new medical technologies are on the horizon and what will they cost? What diseases, new or old, will be prevalent and how much will it cost to treat them.
More importantly, when was the last time the government started something that didn't end up costing multiple times more than initial estimates?

 

[ResearchMonkey]

The bill is crap, its a liberal wad we're being forced to swallow. I don't care much for rape.

Once they "deem" this piece of crap passed, suddenly jobs will become the important issue while they focus on granting amnesty to the illegals.

 

[ResearchMonkey]

Retarded liberals in gov't.