House Republicans tout CBO uncertainty on health bill

Two Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee cited testimony given by Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf that his agency could not provide a complete cost estimate of the healthcare refom legislation currently under markup.

Reps. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) tweeted Wednesday:

Congressional Budget Office Director just admitted they have no idea how much the Pelosi healthcare bill costs. Haven’t had time to study it

CBO just admitted that its 250 professional economists have yet to figure out the full cost of the bill the committee is marking up today.

A letter from the CBO to House Ways and Means chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) sent Tuesday stated that figures in its preliminary analysis “do not represent a formal or complete cost estimate for the coverage
provisions of the draft legislation.”

On Wednesday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), and other House GOP leaders called for a complete CBO analysis of the House bill.

The two other House committees, Energy and Commerce and Education and Labor, are conducting separate markups of the bill.