Baucus Bill Does not Exist

The CBO did not actually review the "Baucus Bill" because the bill has not been written. Jacobson over at Legal Insurrection was nice enough and calm enough to point this out.

From Jacobson, "The internet is alive with the sound of people analyzing the CBO's 'scoring' of the Max Baucus aka Senate Finance Committee Health Care Bill. Before everyone gets too deeply into their thoughts, please keep in mind the following (get ready, all CAPS, bold, indented signifies a really important concept):

"THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL.

"The CBO scored the concepts described by the Baucus Committee. There is no legislative text. None. Baucus and his Democratic colleagues refused to reduce their concepts to actual legislation prior to a vote. Here is the CBO's disclaimer:

"'CBO and JCT’s analysis is preliminary in large part because the Chairman’s mark, as amended, has not yet been embodied in legislative language.'

"The Baucus Concepts are disastrous, but that's for another post. For this post, let me get across a simple concept: THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL.

"Your esteemed Senators on the Senate Finance Committee will not be voting on legislation because THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL."

I don't think things can be put much clearer than how Jacobson put it.

Pundit & Pundette, in their own post, have this quote from CBO Director Elmendorf "The Chairman’s mark, as amended, has not yet been converted into legislative language. The review of such language could lead to significant changes in the estimates of the proposal’s effects on the federal budget and insurance coverage."

Having met with unexpected resistance, the Dems are putting "health reform" through the back door and packaging it as though it was going through the front. This process in described in detail here.

Do not allow this expensive and intrusive garbage to be rammed down our throats. Call your congressmen and senators. Let them know that we are noticing and we will not forget this when elections come back around.