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New York Times: Pelosi Lied - Health Care Bill Costs $1.055 Trillion

by: Bill Dupray   posted: 2009-10-31 09:48:00
Viewed 438 times. 1 Comments.

"The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history." - Nancy Pelosi Victory Speech, November 7, 2006

The incessant stream of lies out of the Democrats is amazing. This is the New York Times flat out saying that Pelosi tried to pull one over on us on the cost of her bill.

Throughout Thursday, news accounts, including our own, focused on $894 billion, the total cost given out by aides to the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, before the official cost analysis was released by the Congressional Budget Office.

But a closer look at the budget office report suggests that the number everyone should have reported was $1.055 trillion, which is the gross cost of the insurance coverage provisions in the bill before taking account of certain new revenues, including penalties by individuals and employers who fail to meet new insurance requirements in the bill.

The $894 billion figure that was initially seized on was not chosen at random. It is featured prominently in the budget office report as the net cost of the insurance coverage provisions in the bill. But the net coverage cost is not the number that lawmakers, the news media and other experts and analysts have focused on in recent months.

For instance, the bill initially proposed by Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, after months of negotiations with a bipartisan group of five other senators, was projected by the budget office to have a gross cost $774 billion.

After two weeks of public debate by the Finance Committee and votes on numerous amendments, the bill ended up with a projected gross cost of $829 billion. Both the $774 billion and $829 billion figures are comparable to the $1.055 trillion gross cost of the House measure.

So if we are talking apples-to-apples, the gross cost (not the net that Pelosi used) is the figure everyone has been using in all news reports covering the cost of the health care bills. So why is Pelosi using the net? She's lying, of course, trying to hide the fact that she has produced a budget-shattering bill that exceed even the president's breathtakingly high cap of $900 billion.

And here is the lie, directly from her lips.

In a news release shortly before House Democrats held a rally to unveil the bill, Ms. Pelosi’s office wrote: “The legislation’s coverage cost will be $894 billion over 10 years, fully paid for.” And in her speech at the event, Ms. Pelosi said: “It reduces the deficits, meets

President Obama’s call to keep the cost under $900 billion over 10 years, and it insures 36 million more Americans.”

Aides to Ms. Pelosi defended their decision to focus on the $894 billion net figure. They also pointed out that in an “apples to apples” comparison — $1.055 trillion for the House bill vs. $829 billion for the Senate Finance measure — the House bill is projected to insure 7 million more people.

Finally, the CBO, the guys who tell us how much a bill costs, puts the debate to rest.

In seeking to stay within those guidelines [the president's $900 billion limit], lawmakers have focused on the gross cost of the coverage provisions. By that yardstick, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said the House bill unveiled on Thursday would cost $1.055 trillion — or about $150 billion (or $15 billion a year) more than Mr. Obama had said the legislation should cost.

Isn't it is a little disconcerting when the Speaker of the House thinks a $150 billion lie is no big deal? Talk about the culture of corruption.

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Comments 1

katie couric sucks on 2009-10-31 15:18:28

Michelle Bachmann has asked for Americans to show up on the front steps of the Capitol Building at noon on Thursday, Nov. 5th to confront Congress about the Health Care Reform bills now being considered. I cannot afford to go. I can, however, fax a proxy to her office. Please do the same. Please copy and paste this on to every blog you can. We need millions of proxies to arrive at her office in time for her to be able to represent all of us.

Michelle Bachmann

Washington Office

107 Cannon HOB

Washington, DC 20515

Phone: (202) 225-2331

Fax: (202) 225-6475


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