Grassley: Dems scared of CBO score

Members anticipating new numbers on the Senate HELP Committee’s health care overhaul might just have to wait until after the August recess, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested on Sunday.

According to a few early morning Tweets (here and here) by the Senate Finance Committee’s ranking Republican:

“Hear Sen HELP Com will not print final version of healthReform bill and CBO score it until aftr Aug recess. Mayb they don’t people to kno$$$”

Why won’t Dems put out Text and cost of their HELP comm bill? Are theyafraid of negative public reaction during Aug recess? Topic forTownHal

At the same time, skepticism continues to circle Grassley and his colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee. While the Congressional Budget Office in June scored their policy outline favorably–it expects the bill to cost around $900 billion while covering 95 percent of Americans–the estimates did not help the Finance Committee approve the proposal before departing for their August recess.

A bipartisan sub-group of six committee members, including Grassley and Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), has been videoconferencing this month to expedite the debate, but it remains unclear whether these lawmakers have made notable progress, The Washington Times reported Friday.