House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C. says the Democratic leadership is “absolutely giddy” over a new cost estimate of their health care plan the Congressional Budget Office has come up with.
According to the CBO, their bill would cost $940 billion over the next decade and would save $138 billion during that time. In the following decade, the bill would save $1.2 trillion, Democrats say.
The actual CBO score is now available online. It will help Democrats round up the half-dozen or so votes they need to take up the measure this on Sunday. Many undecided members said they were waiting for the price tag to ensure it saves enough money.
Republicans, meanwhile, held a rare bicameral meeting in the chamber to discuss Democratic efforts to pass the bill. Later today, they will offer a resolution calling for a roll call vote on the health care bill. Democrats are considering a tactic that would allow them to pass the bill without directly voting on it.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the GOP will do “everything that we can do to make sure that this bill never, ever, ever passes.”
