On the recordMarch 16, 2010
My Democratic colleagues continue to tout claims that this health care bill is "completely paid for" and "will bring down the deficit." But those claims are patently false. The accounting assumptions Democrats have given the Congressional Budget Office to score this bill are nothing short of an Enron-style gimmick. Just look at the most glaring example. The bill counts 10 years of tax increases, amounting to nearly half a trillion dollars, and 10 years of Medicare cuts, also a half a trillion dollars, but it only counts for 6 years of spending. So what is the real cost of this bill? What does it cost when you compare 10 years of spending with 10 years of taxes and Medicare cuts? $2.3 trillion. That's nowhere near budget neutral and will drive the deficit up much higher than it already is. Let us defeat this bill.
