GOP Plan For Trumpcare Is To Try To Ignore CBO Score

It looks the plan that Paul Ryan, in conjunction with the White House, is going to run with his plan to completely ignore the CBO score of Trumpcare/Ryancare that is expected to be released tomorrow. The Trump administration sent out its economic team to flood the Sunday talk shows and either trash the CBO or claim that its numbers are usually meaningless.

Mike Mulvany, the OMB director, came out and said that "estimating the impact of a bill of this size probably isn’t the best use of their [the CBO's] time." It is an interesting position to take considering that estimating the impact of Congressional proposals is pretty much the purpose of the CBO. At the same time, the statement itself is nonsensical. What Mulvaney is suggesting is that bills that might have a huge impact on the economy and the budget are not worth scoring. But, of course, it is far more important to score huge bills like this BECAUSE they can have such a huge impact on the economy and the budget.

Gary Cohn also said today that "In the past, the CBO score has been meaningless." Again, a remarkable position to take in light of what Republicans have demanded while Obama was President. And, as Krugman points out, the CBO's predictions about the impact of Obamacare have been pretty accurate, considering all the variables involved. CBO accurately predicted the decline in the uninsured and the premiums being charged in 2017 are in line with their projections as well, after overestimating those costs for the past two years. It has, on the other hand, overstated the costs of Obamacare by one-third, primarily because the ACA has reduced the rate of medical inflation more than predicted.

It is also quite possible that the Trump administration has a heads up about how bad the CBO score will be and this is a pre-emptive effort to limit that damage. A horrendous CBO score will certainly give those Republicans who want to retain Obamacare but need to fool their own constituents that they are on-board with repeal even more ammunition to scuttle the bill.

Considering the GOP demanded CBO scoring for not only the ACA but anything budget related that Obama wanted to do, it is a remarkable change in position. But it is yet more proof that GOP concerns about the deficit and the debt are just political posturing and nothing more. Democrats should remember that the next time they are in power.