Who’s Reading This Blog?

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office and now president of the American Action Forum, wrote an eye-opening op-ed in the NYT last Saturday detailing the morass of deceit housed in the new health care bill. For instance:

In reality, if you strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, a wholly different picture emerges: The health care reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits, by $562 billion.

… [S]ome costs are left out entirely. To operate the new programs over the first 10 years, future Congresses would need to vote for $114 billion in additional annual spending. But this so-called discretionary spending is excluded from the Congressional Budget Office's tabulation.

… In addition to this accounting sleight of hand, the legislation would blithely rob Peter to pay Paul.

… The health care legislation would only increase this crushing debt. It is a clear indication that Congress does not realize the urgency of putting America’s fiscal house in order.

A day before this op-ed was published, I wrote that the bill won't reduce the deficit. I said it contains provisions which outline how not-yet-invented "future cost-saving initiatives" rely on "accounting gimmicks" that amount to a "budgetary sleight-of-hand." The bill, I also said, will be like other entitlement programs: it will "burden the budget and worsen the debt."

There are a lot of similarities between my post and his op-ed, no?

I doubt that Doug Holtz-Eakin – who makes his living and reputation scouring legislation and producing sober analyses – reads this blog. But the facts we point to should give you a sense of how serious people look at this bill.

Only time will tell if the new health care bill will reduce the deficit as the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats say it will. For the sake of the federal budget, let's hope Holtz-Eakin and I are wrong.