GOP Sen.: Lawmakers Need Right ‘Kind’ Of CBO Score To Move Repeal Forward

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015, to discuss the Department of Homeland Security funding bill. On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner left... Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015, to discuss the Department of Homeland Security funding bill. On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner left open the possibility of a potential shutdown at the department because of a congressional impasse over immigration. (AP Photo/Molly Riley) MORE LESS
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Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) on Sunday said that the Senate will have to get the right “kind of score” from the Congressional Budget Office to pass the Republican bill to repeal and replace Obamacare — unlike the House, which passed a version of the measure last week without a new CBO score.

“Presumably you will read what you’re working on and actually get a Congressional Budget Office score? The House didn’t wait,” Andrea Mitchell asked Blunt on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

“Well, we will, and from the House’s perspective, you know, they added a few things late, but this is not a new issue,” Blunt said. “The Senate is going to have to have the kind of score they need to move this forward.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Sunday brushed off criticism of the rush to vote on the measure without a score as “a bogus attack from the left.”

“The most recent CBO score showed that we’re perfectly in compliance with the Senate budget rules, which is what matters here,” he said, referring to a previous iteration of the bill.

In its report on the first version of the repeal, the CBO also estimated that 24 million people would lose their insurance over the next 10 years if the bill passed.

President Donald Trump on Sunday nevertheless pointedly predicted that “Republican Senators will not let the American people down.”

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Notable Replies

  1. It may be political suicide for the GOP, but I think it will be very hard to prevent them from passing a bill, at this stage.

  2. Trump: Score is 100% positive. My friends and family are getting a lot of free money. What else is needed?

  3. They will find some ways to minimize damage and if they are able to do so and think they can stay in power, its a done deal.

  4. Hey Senator:
    Ask Trump about the possibility of signing an Executive Order obscuring the CBO scores by publishing them in Cyrillic Numerals–he’s familiar with those from the IOUs he’s had to write.

    To save you looking it up, Glagolitic script was created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a Byzantine monk from Thessaloniki. He and his brother, Saint Methodius, were sent by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III in 863 to Great Moravia to spread Christianity among the West Slavs in the area. The brothers decided to translate liturgical books into the Old Slavic language…

    So when someone says St. Cyril, don’t start looking for Monty Python. You could look for Lily St. Cyr, who was well worth looking at…

  5. Avatar for pshah pshah says:

    I think you’re right. Trump is taking this personally and his ego won’t allow for a loss.

    I expect the usual suspects (McCain, Collins, Graham, among others) to cave after talking a good game.

    It’ll be, at best, an atrocity foisted on the American people. Only good news may be that the public is ready to hold them accountable. And counterintuitively, taking benefits away may be the launching pad for some sort of single payor in the future.

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