Economy Alarm: Democrats Call for Sit-Down When Non-Partisan Office Won’t Parrot Liberal Talking Points
Democrats Call for Sit-Down When Non-Partisan Office Won’t Parrot Liberal Talking Points
Democrat “Frustration” with Non-Partisan Budget Office Spurs Meeting With Obama
Congressional Budget Office Outlines Massive Costs of Government Healthcare Takeover
“According to CBO’s and JCT’s assessment, enacting H.R. 3200 would result in a net increase in the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over the 2010-2019 period. That estimate reflects a projects 10-years cost of the bill’s insurance coverage provisions of $1,042 billion … It is important to note that the figures presented here do not represent a complete cost estimate … They do no include certain costs that the government would incur to administer the proposed changes and the impact of the bill’s provisions on other federal programs.” (Congressional Budget Office, “Preliminary Analysis Of H.R. 3200, The America’s Affordable Health Choices Act,” Letter To Congressman Charles B. Rangel, 7/17/09)
Credibility Crash: GOP Raises Objections to Inappropriate Meeting as Obama Leans on His Appointee to be Friendlier to Democrat’s Government Healthcare Takeover
Republicans on Wednesday criticized as inappropriate a meeting President Obama held Monday with the director of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Elmendorf.
Elmendorf, a Democrat appointee, has been a thorn in the side of President Obama and congressional Democrats for the way he has analyzed health care reform legislation. In their view, Elmendorf hasn’t sufficiently given their health care reform proposals enough credit for cutting costs – which has caused them political problems in getting the legislation passed. Last week, frustrated at one analysis by Elmendorf, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., snapped, “what he should do is maybe run for Congress.”
“No one blames Mr. Elmendorf for accepting an invitation from the President of the United States,” House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement.“The issue is whether it was appropriate for the White House to invite him to discuss pending legislation before Congress at all.”
CBO is tasked with providing “objective, nonpartisan, and timely analyses to aid in economic and budgetary decisions on the wide array of programs covered by the federal budget.”…
… Former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a Republican appointee who advised the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said that he never had a private meeting at the White House during his time helming CBO, from 2003 to 2005.
“The only appearance could be that they’re leaning on him,” Holtz-Eakin said. “CBO was created for Congress, for independent analysis. The White House did him (Elmendorf) a terrible disservice.”…
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So far those analyses have been causing Democrats headaches.
“One of the things that’s disappointing about CBO — and frustrating — is all the work…done on prevention” that the CBO doesn’t factor in, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., co-author of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee legislation, recently griped…
… Before that, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that “it’s always been a source, yes I will say frustration, for many of us in Congress that the CBO will always give you the worst case scenario on one initiative and never … any credit for anything that happens if you have early intervention, health care. If you have prevention, if you have wellness … you name any positive investment that we make, that we know reduces cost, brings money to the Treasury in the case of education but never scored positively by the CBO. Yes, it is frustrating.”…
… Holtz-Eakin, who said he’s starting a think tank, added that if the White House was interested in Elmendorf’s views or suggestions, they needed to just have “read the CBO studies and left it at that. A wiser White House than this one would have seen that….These guys may have I.Q. points off the scale, but a reverence for institutions and something about a respect for the process is not their strong point.”
To read the entire article, click here: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/07/republicans-assail-president-obama-meeting-with-congressional-budget-office-director-as-inappropriat.html
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