Dems Still Don’t Have the CBO Score They Want

By Philip Klein,American Spectator

 Obama and co. cannot get the CBO to score the bill as they want it to be scored

As Democrats have delayed releasing their final health care reconciliation bill,they’ve consistently tried to create the impression that they’re essentially finished,but are merely waiting on the Congressional Budget Office. For instance,House whip Jim Clyburn told Fox earlier that,“We are still waiting on the CBO,the Congressional Budget Office,to give us its final number on what this thing will cost.” Yet the delay in releasing the bill and CBO score (which was initially supposed to come out as early as last week) has suggested something else – that early estimates from the CBO were bad,and they’re making changes to get the score that they want.
It now appears that this is precisely the case. A story from Congressional Quarterly reports:

House Democratic leaders are still struggling to produce a final health care overhaul bill at an acceptable official cost estimate,but Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Tuesday they continue to plan a final vote this week. House leaders were to huddle late Tuesday afternoon,following a noon session of the full Democratic Caucus. There were reports they are having trouble drafting a bill that meets their budgetary targets….

Rank-and-file Democrats did not talk about the details,but said that the CBO scores had come up short. “They were less than expected” in terms of deficit reduction,said Rep. Gene Green,D-Texas,who plans to vote for the bill.

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