The Republicans have made much of their new “cut-go” rules. This rule requires that any new legislation that would raise spending must be offset by spending cuts. Except of course for HR 2 which repeals the Affordable Care Act(health care reform). According to a CBO estimate released today repealing the Affordable Care Act will increase the budget deficit by $230 billion over the next 10 years.
According to Rep. Cantor on CBS’s “The Early Show” the Republicans don’t accept a Congressional Budget Office analysis saying the new health care is likely to reduce the federal deficit. Cantor insists that the bill will cost over a trillion dollars “and we do know it was full of budget gimmickry.” He also stated that “most Americans don’t like the health care bill and know there’s a better way.
Ah, so if you don’t agree with the spending estimates given to you by the CBO (yes, there are issues with the CBO but just watch the Republicans will exploit those same issues in the coming days) and you think the American people don’t like the bill then you are free to break the rules you just set up.
The Republicans are also likely to vote for a closed rule on HR 2 today. Under a closed rule no amendments can be offered. Republicans believe this is justified because in their mind their is nothing to amend. See this discussion at the Hill.com.
So here we go again. The majority party is acting like a domineering bully and the minority party is told to go pound sand. It really doesn’t matter which party is in charge Republican or Democrat. Both parties bend the rules when they are in charge and complain when it happens to them. I’m glad the Republicans didn’t keep us guessing for more than 30 seconds if they were going to be different and handle themselves with dignity.
