You might've awoke to the news that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has checked Max Baucus's healthcare reform bill and found it awesome -- at least, in budgetary terms. The Hill is reporting that the "bill took a giant step forward Wednesday as congressional scorekeepers concluded that it would extend coverage to millions of Americans while also cutting the deficit." It leaves 20 million uninsured, but who cares? It doesn't dent the deficit and that's what really matters.Of course, over at the right wing National Review, Tevi Troy puts a lot of effort into showing why the CBO's numbers are hiding the awful truth; we'll be taxed to death, Medicare will be shot out of a cannon into the sun, and illegal immigrants won't be covered (I thought the right was against covering undocumented people. They were yesterday, anyway). To his credit, Troy doesn't mention death panels, ACORN, or FEMA camps once. I guess he's more focused than average.
The only problem with all this "Yay (or boo) for Max Baucus and the CBO!" reporting is that this whole thing is missing one crucial element -- an actual bill.
William A. Jacobson, Le*gal In*sur*rec*tion:
The internet is alive with the sound of people analyzing the CBO's "scoring" of the Max Baucus aka Senate Finance Committee Health Care Bill. Before everyone gets too deeply into their thoughts, please keep in mind the following (get ready, all CAPS, bold, indented signifies a really important concept):THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL.
The CBO scored the concepts described by the Baucus Committee. There is no legislative text. None. Baucus and his Democratic colleagues refused to reduce their concepts to actual legislation prior to a vote. Here is the CBO's disclaimer:CBO and JCT's analysis is preliminary in large part because the Chairman's mark, as amended, has not yet been embodied in legislative language.
The Baucus Concepts are disasterous, but that's for another post. For this post, let me get across a simple concept: THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL.
I think the point he's trying to get across here is that there is no Baucus bill. The subtlety may make it hard to understand that point... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
