Watching the health care debate on the Senate floor it is amusing to see the Republicans continue to argue that the Democrats’ bill will slash Medicare funding and see the Democrats respond by hold up letters from every reputable seniors’ lobbying group saying that the bill will strengthen Medicare. It got so bad that John McCain, growing frustrated, called on every member of the AARP to rip up their membership cards because they’ve been betrayed.
The GOP also continues to harp on the fact the the bill will begin raising revenues immediately without paying anything out until 2014. They say this is a gimmick to make the bill budget-neutral in the first 10 years. But the Democrats continue to point out the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that the bill will reduce the deficit not only in the first ten-year window but in the second ten-year window as well. When Max Baucus asked Chuck Grassley if this was in fact the case, Grassley was reduced to feigning a lack of certainty about the issue. As if the ranking member of the Finance Committee is unaware of the CBO scores!!!
Now Dick Durbin is laughing at Republicans for pretending to defend Medicare.
