Republicans Sideline the CBO

Rick Klein and Shushannah Walshe: “As Capitol Hill waits on the Congressional Budget Office to ‘score’ the new health care bill, the White House seems to be setting things up…to ignore it.”

Said White House press secretary Sean Spicer: “If you’re looking to the CBO for accuracy, you’re looking in the wrong place. When they come out with this score, we need to understand their track record when it comes to health care.”

“This is the latest signal from the White House that it intends to sideline the CBO, which has operated as the independent arbiter of costs and impact for generations – hard facts, in an era of spin. The ‘alternative facts’ presidency has broader implications than health care or the budget: job numbers, growth statistics, climate data – all affect policy decisions where a common set of facts is valuable, if not critical.”