More GOP hypocrisy: Fiscal conservatism takes a back seat

GOP House rules prohibit measuring how repealing Obamacare will affect the federal deficit.

Mankato Free Press Editorial Staff

The Republican majority in the U.S. House took a step backward from fiscal responsibility when it approved rules for the next two years that would prohibit the Congressional Budget Office from estimating the impact on the federal deficit of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

The rules were approved by a 234-190 vote, with three Republicans voting with all Democrats against the plan to prohibit the fiscal oversight of repeal. All of Minnesota’s Republican representatives voted to remove the fiscal analysis.

For years, the “Rules of the House of Representatives” required the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to estimate the impact of any legislation that might cost more than $5 billion of the next 40 years, an amount that is miniscule when compared to the $3.5 trillion annual federal budget.

Yet, the latest rules exempt analysis of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. The CBO’s analysis done last June shows repealing the affordable care act would increase the federal deficit anywhere from $135 billion to $350 billion over the next 10 years. When the CBO estimated implementation of the act, it determined it would actually reduce the federal deficit due to taxes it would collect and Medicare payments it would corral.

(More here.)