On the recordFebruary 18, 2011
Mr. Chairman, seeing the gentleman from California down on the floor reminds me: When this bill passed, the Congressional Budget Office told us there would be $142 billion in savings over 10 years; but less than 30 days later, the chief actuary at CMS, Dr. Foster, came forward and said the bill was going to cost $318 billion additionally over that time. That's a $450 billion swing, and even in the United States Congress, we ought to be able to get a little closer than that. I filed a resolution of inquiry with Chairman Waxman, who was then chairman of Energy and Commerce, who said let's sort this out. What did they know, when did they know it? Was Congress given inaccurate information before we voted on this very large bill? I was never allowed to bring that forward. We could have solved that last year and settled that part of the debate last year.
