Max Baucus Thinks Reading the Health Care Bill a Waste of Time
Under the “They Said It” category comes this story from the Flathead Beacon in Montana, discussing Monday’s town hall meeting in the town of Libby, where Finance Committee Chairman Baucus and HHS Secretary Sebelius discussed the health care law, and specifically a “backroom deal” in the measure whereby certain individuals in Libby were granted access to Medicare. At the town hall, one resident asked Baucus and Sebelius “if either of you read the health care bill before it was passed and if not, that is the most despicable, irresponsible thing,” to which Baucus responded:
“I don’t think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the health care bill. You know why? It’s statutory language…We hire experts.”
Back in March, Speaker Pelosi said that Democrats had to pass the health care bill “so that you can find out what is in it.” She was talking to members of the general public, but judging from the comments above, she may have been referring to Members of Congress as well. (For the record, reading guides to the health care bill’s provisions are available here and here.)
Senator Baucus may not have read the health care legislation, but the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) – i.e., some of the Congressionally-hired “experts” Sen. Baucus alluded to – did. Just last week, the CBO estimated that the health law’s job-killing tax hikes and related policies will kill hundreds of thousands of jobs over the coming years.
Therein lies the true contradiction in the yearlong health care debate. Democrat Members asserted they need not read the health care bill because they hired “experts” (or two lawyers over two days) to help them understand it. But they then proceeded to ignore predictions by those same experts that the law will kill jobs and thus damage economic growth. Considering it a “waste of time” to review provisions that Congress’ own budget experts believe will destroy jobs represents the furthest thing from health “reform” – and reinforces why true reform is needed now more than ever.