House Begins Debate on Repeal of Health Care Reform
January 18, 2011
by Diane W. Collins
dcollins@marketingweb.com
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Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) |
Today the House began seven hours of debate on the repeal of the Health Care Reform Act. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the new Chair of the House Budget Committee offered the Republican ideology behind pursuing repeal.
Using a number of charts, Rep. Ryan was able to show the true cost of the Health Care Reform Act while explaining the rules of Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scoring. Central to the debate regarding cost is how the CBO is restricted when scoring a particular piece of legislation. It appears the CBO may only consider the information put in front of them. That means they must score a bill based on the written parameters set by the party presenting the request. However, the CBO is unrestricted when determining if the legislation adds to the overall debt. This is the reason for seemingly conflicting CBO reports. As Rep. Ryan pointed out, the CBO has determined the Health Care Reform Act based on the Democrats request to score doesn't add to the deficit, however, in a separate ruling the CBO stated it adds to the debt. Rep. Ryan's ability to unravel the numbers has been invaluable.
The Democrats "cooked the books," yet they continue to quote the CBO report based on their gimmicks while accusing Republicans of picking and choosing when to "accept" CBO scores. The enormity of the Health Care Reform Act enables "smoke and mirrors" maneuvering, producing a highly complex debate. The Left is banking on that complexity and they're cloaking it with emotional appeals that offer a false choice... It isn't all or nothing. It's repeal and replace. More later.
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