House Republican leaders have no intention of bashing the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office when it releases what is expected to be a less-than-flattering assessment of Republicans’ plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act as early as Monday afternoon, according to a House leadership aide.
The aide told the Washington Examiner that attacking the CBO is not a wise political move. And although team Trump has criticized CBO, it was trying to make the point that it didn’t get the Obamacare score right, and Republicans don’t expect Trump to attack the CBO, the aide said.
House Republicans expect the CBO to score their legislation poorly on the number of people who will have health insurance if it becomes law, but say that’s to be expected as their plan doesn’t require people to purchase insurance, unlike Obamacare, which fines people who are uninsured.
As for the rest, such as its impact on the national budget and deficit, they expect good news.
Still, President Trump and his advisers have been pre-empting any bad news the Hill’s auditors may have for the GOP plan by questioning the office’s accuracy. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price told NBC on Sunday that the CBO significantly over-estimated how many additional Americans would receive health insurance because of the ACA.
“So the CBO has been very adept in not providing appropriate coverage statistics,” he said.
In 2015, however, Price praised CBO Director Keith Hall when he chaired the House Budget Committee, and his panel approved Hall’s nomination to the post.
“Throughout his career, he has served in both the public and private sector, under presidents of both parties, and in roles that make him well-suited to lead the CBO,” Price said in a February 2015 statement. “In particular, during his time at the U.S. International Trade Commission, Dr. Hall has worked on providing Congress with non-partisan economic analyses—a role similar to the responsibilities he will now assume as CBO director.”
