Obama, Democrats Continue Health Care Push (includes CBO updates)

[JohnBrowdie]

finally, there is some pushback on the administration on health care takeover.  I don't think the dems want to pass this one with just democrat votes, because then they would own the whole thing.  and even they have to realize that this bill is about control, not health care, and that it won't do any of the things that its supporters are peddling.

maybe the administration should call the CBO "the office of no", and that any disagreement with the administration's awesomeness was automatically "being in favor of doing nothing", and then remind them that THEY won the election. 

that last one is a pet peeve of mine.  it's just a retarded thing to say.  everyone in congress won an election;  that's how you get there.

Obama, Democrats Continue Health Care Push
CBO Director: Health Care Plan May Not Cut Costs in The Long Run

As the push for health care reform continues in Washington today, one of the main arguments made by President Obama and some Democratic lawmakers -- that their plans would save the federal government and taxpayers money in the long haul by containing costs was dealt a blow today.

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Doug Elmendorf said today that the legislation under discussion would in fact raise costs instead of lowering them.

At a hearing of the Senate Budget Committee, Elmendorf said CBO does not see health care cost savings in either of the partisan Democratic bills currently in Congress.

When asked by committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota whether the bills would "bend the cost curve," Elmendorf said, "The curve is being raised."

"In the legislation that has been reported, we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount," Elmendorf said. "And on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs."

Elmendorf said that subsidies to help uninsured people would raise federal health care spending, which is already growing at an unsustainable rate.

But in a separate hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee today, he did not respond to questions by Republicans asking about the cost of the House Democratic bill, only to say that "We... cannot do quantitative analysis [on the bill] beyond 10 years."

Today, the president met separately with Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, to discuss health care, while three congressional committees continue discussions on the House Democrats $1.5 billion health overhaul legislation.

Snowe doesn't share Obama's view that legislation needs to be voted on before the August recess -- which begins in 16 days for the House and 22 for the Senate.

Snowe told reporters Wednesday that's probably not enough time, and she pointed to the creation of Medicare in the 1960s, which she said took a lot longer than the timetable proposed by Democrats this year.

More

[JohnBrowdie]

and then you see this.  who the hell knows what is happening . . . . I wonder just how "bipartisan" it really is, since they only need a couple of GOP senators (assuming kennedy and byrd are absent) to ram the damn thing through the senate.  And I wonder if the president would be willing to sign what baucus' committee manages to produce.

I am sure they are working on snowe and collins.

health care is different from all of the other obamite economic destruction/re-creations because once done, it probably can't be undone.  it will unalterably change the social compact;  the essential relationship between the citizen and government.

Max Baucus: bipartisan health care deal close

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Thursday that he hopes to have a bipartisan deal on a health care reform bill by the end of the day.

He made the remarks after huddling for about two hours with five Finance Committee members most closely involved in the negotiations. It was the first time Baucus acknowledged a time frame for reaching an agreement.

“We are meeting very aggressively today,” Baucus said of the bipartisan group, which plans to meet again at 1:30 p.m. “We will keep meeting all day long. I hope we can reach some kind of agreement by the end of the day, but having said that, it depends on what kind it is.”

Asked again by reporters if he expected a deal Thursday, Baucus reverted back to his standard line that the group “will be ready when we’re ready.”

Baucus said the task of filling a $320 billion hole in the bill has been challenging since the Democratic leadership and President Barack Obama asked Baucus last week to take the idea of taxing health benefits off the table. The mix of new options includes assessing health industry fees, issuing bonds to cover the cost of the Medicaid expansion and capping itemized deductions — although the last idea was not popular with members, Baucus said Thursday.

“Basically, the president is not helping us,” Baucus said of his opposition to capping the tax exclusion on health benefits. “He does not want the exclusion. That is making it difficult.”

More

[JohnBrowdie]

the CBO adds fuel to the fire.  the WaPo moved this as a breaking news alert.

CBO Chief Criticizes Democrats' Health Reform Measures
Director Says Proposed Changes Would Weaken Economy

Instead of saving the federal government from fiscal catastrophe, the health reform measures being drafted by congressional Democrats would worsen an already bleak budget outlook, increasing deficit projections and driving the nation more deeply into debt, the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said this morning.

Under questioning by members of the Senate Budget Committee, CBO director Douglas Elmendorf said bills crafted by House leaders and the Senate health committee do not propose "the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a signficant amount."

"On the contrary," Elmendorf said, "the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs."

Though President Obama and Democratic leaders have said repeatedly that reining in the skyrocketing growth in spending on giovernment health programs such as Medicaid and Medicare is their top priority, the reform measures put forth so far would not fulfill their pledge to "bend the cost curve" downward, Elmendorf said. Instead, he said, "The curve is being raised."

The CBO is the official arbiter of the costs of legislation, and Elmendorf's stark testimony is certain to undermine support for the measures even as three House panels begin debate and aim to put a bill on the House floor before the August recess. Fiscal conservatives in the House, known as the Blue Dogs, were already threatening to block passage of legislation in the Energy and Commerce Committee, primarily due to concerns about the long-term costs of the House bill.

Cost is also a major issue in the Senate, where some moderate Democrats have joined Republicans in calling on Obama to drop his demand that both chambers approve a bill before the August recess. While the Senate health committee approved its bill on Wednesday with no Republican votes, members of the Senate Finance Committee were still struggling to craft a bipartisan measure that does more to restrain costs.

More