CBO

10:33 AM, Jun 4, 2013 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON

A big part of Obamacare is its massive expansion of Medicaid. Fortunately, this expansion can’t happen in most states without Republicans freely choosing to make it happen. Unfortunately, far too many Republican governors seem to be confused about the distinction between repealing Obamacare and implementing it.

If Obamacare isn’t repealed, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that it will cost about $1.9 trillion over its real first decade (2014 to 2023) and will still leave 30 million people uninsured. Aside from these 30 million, the CBO projects that 11 million people will be dumped into the already failing Medicaid program — where they’ll receive subpar care at taxpayer expense. Some of these 11 million have employer-sponsored insurance today, but the CBO projects that roughly 4 million people will lose such coverage under Obamacare. The cost to federal taxpayers from Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion alone, according to the CBO, will be about $750 billion over the overhaul’s real first decade.

Nevertheless, some Republican governors want to implement this key aspect of Obamacare in their states. To be clear, they aren’t required to do so by law. Instead, they are actually volunteering to do so.

Among the Republican governors who are lining up to do the president’s bidding (although some are being blocked by their state legislatures) are Chris Christie (N.J.), Rick Scott (Fla.), John Kasich (Ohio), Jan Brewer (Ariz.), Susana Martinez (N.M.), Rick Snyder (Mich.), Jack Dalrymple (N.D.), and Brian Sandoval (Nev.).

Thankfully, however, many other Republican governors are pushing to repeal, rather than to implement, President Obama’s signature legislation. These GOP governors include Rick Perry (Tex.), Bobby Jindal (La.), Pat McCrory (N.C.), Tom Corbett (Pa.), Paul LePage (Maine), Mary Fallin (Okla.), Nathan Deal (Ga.), Phil Bryant (Miss.), Dennis Daugaard (S.D.), Nikki Haley (S.C.), Robert Bentley (Ala.), and Scott Walker (Wis.).

Jeffrey H. Anderson is executive director of the newly formed 2017 Project, which is working to advance a conservative reform agenda.

6:48 AM, Jun 4, 2013 • By JERYL BIER

On Monday, CNBC reported on a new survey that found that two-thirds of Americans currently without health insurance don't know if they will purchase coverage by the deadline, the first day of 2014. The survey was released by InsuranceQuotes.com, a company that offers comparison shopping for insurance, similar to the "marketplaces" envisioned by Obamacare. The results of the survey surprised Laura Adams, senior insurance analyst at the company:

4:45 PM, Sep 2, 2012 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON

President Obama's top strategist, David Axelrod, said today on Fox News Sunday that, under Obama, we've had "29 straight months of job growth." Yet, according to the federal government's own figures, 29 months ago, 58.5 percent of Americans were employed. Today, only 58.4 percent of Americans are employed. In other words, any job growth over the past 29 months hasn't even kept up with population growth.

9:02 AM, Aug 23, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER

Steve Hayes, with A.B. Stoddard and Charles Krauthammer, last night on Fox News:

12:32 PM, Aug 22, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER

The Washington Times reports:

President Obama and Congress are flirting with both a recession and a bigger jump in unemployment next year unless they head off looming tax increases and spending cuts — but doing so could mean a fifth straight year of trillion-dollar deficits, the government’s chief scorekeeper said Wednesday.

11:16 AM, Aug 22, 2012 • By GEOFFREY NORMAN

In its most dire warning yet about the fiscal cliff yet, the CBO said the economy would contract by 0.5 percent in calendar year 2013 if the Bush-era tax rates expire and automatic spending cuts are implemented. Unemployment also would rise from 8.2 percent in 2012 to 9.1 percent next year, it estimates.

10:25 AM, Mar 26, 2012 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON

Senior White House advisor David Plouffe — President Obama’s campaign manager in 2008 — told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday that, when it comes to dealing with our colossal deficits and debt, “the right approach is the president’s approach.” That approach, Plouffe added, “gets our deficit on a very sustainable path.” One wonders: Has Plouffe seen a copy of the president’s budget?

2:22 PM, Nov 29, 2011 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON

Minnesota Public Radio reports, “A loophole in the federal health care overhaul would allow many employers to game the system by dumping their sicker employees [into] public health insurance exchanges, according to two University of Minnesota law professors.”

3:45 PM, Jul 29, 2011 • By MARK HEMINGWAY

The Hill reports that the Congressional Budget Office has scored the Boehner debt ceiling plan as reducing the deficit more than Harry Reid's plan -- and that's without resorting to gimmickry regarding assumptions about war spending:

12:35 PM, Jun 23, 2011 • By MICHAEL WARREN

Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the Congressional Budget Office, told the House Budget Committee this morning that his office was unable to estimate the long-term viability of the "budget framework" President Obama outlined in his April 13 budget speech.

"We don't estimate speeches," said Elmendorf. "We need much more specificity than was provided in that speech for us to do our analysis."

1:54 PM, Jun 22, 2011 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON

The CBO’s newly released 2011 Long-Term Budget Outlook forecasts that federal spending will soon exceed spending during parts of World War II. In 1942, federal spending equaled 24.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) (Table 1.3). Less than 25 years from now (in 2035), according to the CBO, federal spending would equal 27.4 percent of GDP under current law, and 33.9 percent of GDP under changes to current law “that are widely expected to occur.”

8:55 AM, May 5, 2011 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON

Ever since President Obama gave his speech on deficit reduction last month, in response to the Paul Ryan-authored 2012 House Republican budget, press accounts have suggested that he has released an actual budget that would reduce deficit spending by $4 trillion. This claim is wrong on both counts: Obama has not released a second budget, and the proposals he outlined in his speech and its corresponding "framework" would not reduce deficit spending by anywhere near $4 trillion.

The Elementary Errors of Frum and Krugman

8:01 AM, Apr 8, 2011 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON

In The Week, David Frum claims that House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan’s proposed budget “actually increases the debt over the medium term — by even more [than] President Obama’s budget would,” thereby “worsening … the debt situation over the period from 2012 to 2021.” In today’s New York Times, Paul Krugman echoes part of Frum’s charge, claiming that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) “finds that over the next decade the [Ryan] plan would lead to bigger deficits and more debt than current law.”