With a straight face, Steve Cohen made two comments at Saturday’s Town Hall that were flat out lies.
“If you like your coverage, you can keep your coverage.”
Wrong Steve. Well, technically right. You can keep it for now. But change jobs and you’re in the government plan. The one that Steve isn’t going to be on. The one no government employee is going to be on.
“The CBO has said this is budget neutral.”
Wrong Steve. That’s why we booed you. You say you’ve read the bill. Try reading this:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/104xx/doc10464/hr3200.pdf
I’ll give you the short version. In the BEST scenario, we’re only out about a quarter of a trillion dollars. That’s $239,000,000,000. It makes you think about it when you write out the actual zeros. Here’s the actual quote from the CBO blog on the subject:
According to CBO’s and JCT’s assessment, enacting H.R. 3200 would result in a net increase in the federal budget deficit of $239 billion over the 2010-2019 period. That estimate reflects a projected 10-year cost of the bill’s insurance coverage provisions of $1,042 billion, partly offset by net spending changes that CBO estimates would save $219 billion over the same period, and by revenue provisions that JCT estimates would increase federal revenues by about $583 billion over those 10 years.
Oh, and there’s this little nugget:
In addition, the figures do not include certain costs that the government would incur to administer the proposed changes and the impact of the bill’s provisions on other federal programs…
We all know what happens to government programs. They grow. Especially when it’s free money for so many. The reason you were booed is because you flat-out lied to our faces. Let’s have an honest debate, which means truth. Perhaps YOU should be taking the aspirin instead of drinking the koolaid, Mr. Cohen.
It was also very interesting to note that we saw one homemade sign supporting Obamacare. Every other one. EVERY OTHER ONE was a printed out sign, most of which were the same as others in the hall. Some of which I saw being handed out outside the hall. Yeah, you look real spontaneous there on the left. On the other hand, ever anti-healthcare cramdown poster or sign was made by hand.
Hmm… sounds familiar. Those that want from the government getting a handout, those that want to provide for themselves doing the work by hand.
