Today in Washington D. C. - Nov 19, 2009 - Reid's 2,000 Page Bill Full of Tax Hikes, Medicare Cuts, Trillions In Costs & Budget Gimmicks

The Senate will began consideration of S. 1963, a $3.7 billion veterans health care bill. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has offered an amendment to offset the cost by cutting contributions to some international organizations. At 2 PM, the Senate will resume consideration of the nomination of Judge David Hamilton to the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals. At 2:30, the Senate will begin a series of votes, first on confirmation of the Hamilton nomination, then on the Coburn amendment to S. 1963, then on final passage of the bill.

Last night, after weeks of working behind closed doors, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) unveiled his “mammoth" 2,074-page health care reform bill (H.R. 3590). Reid still has not filed cloture on this health care bill, but if he files today, a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the bill is expected on Saturday.

Unfortunately, as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell explained this morning, it’s clear that Democrats were not listening to the American people and have produced another monstrosity that raises taxes, raises premiums, and slashes Medicare: In addition, he said, “The Majority Leader’s bill is 2,074 pages long. When fully implemented—and the way to look at the true cost of this bill is how much will it cost over a 10-year period—when this 2,074 page bill is fully implemented it will cost $2.5 trillion. According to CBO, federal health care spending will actually go up, not down as a result of this mammoth effort to rewrite one-sixth of our economy.”

The AP notes that the bill includes “higher payroll taxes” and a variety of new fees. The Washington Post points out that the bill “add[s] an array of tax increases, including a rise in payroll taxes for high earners.” All told, Sen. McConnell, said, “It raises taxes $493 billion.” The Washington Post also acknowledges, “Like the House bill, Reid's proposal would be financed through billions of dollars in Medicare cuts, as well as new taxes.” Indeed, Sen. McConnell explained, “Hospitals, Medicare Advantage, nursing homes, home health, hospice—all of those will be slashed in this $465 billion cut to Medicare.”

And of course, it wouldn’t be a Democrat health care bill without a whole host of budget gimmicks to make it appear to cost less than it actually does. Politico notes, “The Senate bill pushes back implementation of major parts of the reform to 2014 -- a change from 2013 under the Finance Committee bill.” This is precisely to make it appear to cost less. In fact, as Sen. McConnell explained, once the bill is fully implemented, in the 10 years following 2014, not 10 years from today, it costs a staggering $2.5 trillion.

Something else delaying implementation of the bill until 2014 allows Democrats to claim is that the bill reduces the budget deficit by $127 billion by 2019. Yet this is minuscule when compared to the cost of the bill, and even more absurdly, this amount is exceeded by the budget deficit for October alone--$176 billion. Yes, Democrats already spent the money they expect to save with this bill, and then some. An oft-stated goal of Democrats with their health care reform plans is to “bend the cost curve” and reduce federal spending on health care. But according to the CBO, “Under the legislation, federal outlays for health care would increase during the 2010–2019 period, as would the federal budgetary commitment to health care.”

To quote Sen. McConnell summed up the problems in his floor speech today: “So what is the bottom line here? After 6 weeks of drafting a bill behind closed doors, the Majority has produced a bill that increases premiums, raises taxes, and slashes Medicare by half a trillion dollars to create a new government program. This is not what the American people want. I don’t believe they think this is reform. This is not the direction to take.”

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