The bill’s real first ten years are from 2014 to 2023, during which time the Congressional Budget Office says the $1.8-trillion bill would raise Americans’ taxes by $892 billion, would funnel $802 billion out of Medicare, and — if it didn’t follow through on its pledge to cut doctors’ payments under Medicare by 23 percent in 2011 and never raise them back up — would increase deficits by $286 billion. These are the figures that accurately reflect the bills’ costs, taxes, Medicare cuts, and deficit-spending. Yet, so far, most Republicans have seemingly been content to cite the figures for taxes and Medicare cuts that the Democrats want them to cite — figures that (whether by careful design or not) come in below the threshold figure of $500 billion.
Republicans should be talking about the bill’s $800 billion increases in taxes, the $800 billion it would siphon from Medicare to spend elsewhere, and the fact that it would either cut doctors’ payments by $431 billion or increase deficits by nearly $300 billion — one or the other. They shouldn’t be cutting those figures in half.
11/20 10:07 AM
This blog post originally appeared on National Review’s Critical Condition.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Republicans Can’t Afford to Parrot the Democrats’ False Numbers
Jeffrey H. Anderson
The bill’s real first ten years are from 2014 to 2023, during which time the Congressional Budget Office says the $1.8-trillion bill would raise Americans’ taxes by $892 billion, would funnel $802 billion out of Medicare, and — if it didn’t follow through on its pledge to cut doctors’ payments under Medicare by 23 percent in 2011 and never raise them back up — would increase deficits by $286 billion.
These are the figures that accurately reflect the bills’ costs, taxes, Medicare cuts, and deficit-spending. Yet, so far, most Republicans have seemingly been content to cite the figures for taxes and Medicare cuts that the Democrats want them to cite — figures that (whether by careful design or not) come in below the threshold figure of $500 billion.
Republicans should be talking about the bill’s $800 billion increases in taxes, the $800 billion it would siphon from Medicare to spend elsewhere, and the fact that it would either cut doctors’ payments by $431 billion or increase deficits by nearly $300 billion — one or the other. They shouldn’t be cutting those figures in half.
11/20 10:07 AM
This blog post originally appeared on National Review’s Critical Condition.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.