McConnell statement on latest ObamaCare CBO estimate

Here's what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says about the release of the Congressional Budget Office's ObamaCare estimate.

Taking a bill that House Democrats are too embarrassed to vote on, adding more than $150 billion in new taxes and slashing $60 billion more from our seniors' Medicare and keeping sweetheart deals may make some Washington Democrats "giddy," but it's not reform.

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Thursday regarding health care reform and the most recent CBO estimate:

Democrat leaders in the House say that they’re "giddy" because of the CBO's latest estimate of their trillion-dollar health spending bill.

That's what you call trying to get out in front of the news.

If you look at the details — if you look under the hood — you’ll see that this latest bill is even more painful than the Senate bill that Democrats are afraid to take a vote on.

Democrat leaders are bragging about this bill's impact on the deficit.

They say it reduces the deficit by $130 billion over 10 years.

The more important question is, how do they get there?

They get there with even higher taxes and deeper Medicare cuts than the first Senate bill.

Let's start with Medicare cuts.

The Senate bill that Speaker Pelosi said Democrats are so afraid to take a vote on cut Medicare by $465 billion.

This latest bill increases those cuts by about $60 billion more.

How about taxes?

The Senate bill that Democrats are so afraid to take a vote on raises taxes by $494 billion.

This bill increases those tax hikes by at least $150 billion.

So if you were worried about raising taxes in the middle of a recession, this bill raises taxes even more.

If you were worried about cutting Medicare for seniors, this bill cuts it even more.
So here's how Washington works.

Democrats want to spend trillions of dollars on this bill in order to save $130 billion — one week after voting to add nearly that much to the deficit in a single vote.

If Democrats are giddy about this CBO score, then they must get a kick out of higher taxes and Medicare cuts — because that’s what this bill will mean: even higher taxes and deeper Medicare cuts than the Senate bill.

And if wavering Democrats needed any more evidence that this bill is actually worse than the Senate bill, they got it from the Chairman of the Budget Committee this afternoon.

If our Democrat friends in the House were counting on the Senate to fix the Senate bill that they’re too embarrassed to vote for, don’t.

The Budget Committee chairman is already warning you that if a reconciliation bill comes over to the Senate, it will have to go back to the House for changes. So don't count on us to fix this bill for you.

Republicans have been saying for nearly a year now that this bill is unsalvageable. This latest CBO score proves our point.

The president shouldn't scrap his trip to Indonesia. He should scrap this bill and start over on a bill that Americans can embrace and that lawmakers from both parties will actually be proud to vote for.

Taking a bill that House Democrats are too embarrassed to vote on, adding more than $150 billion in new taxes and slashing $60 billion more from our seniors' Medicare and keeping sweetheart deals may make some Washington Democrats "giddy," but it's not reform.

Technorati tags: Politics Republican gop Senate McConnell Kentucky health universal health care obamacare