American Elephants

So much for Obama’s entire argument. For months he has told us that we must pass Obamacare to save the economy — that his bill will, contrary to the entire history of government involvement, somehow bring down health care costs.

The director of the Congressional Budget Office, the ostensibly non-partisan group that is charged with evaluating economic impact, says that is a load of horsehockey:

The health care overhauls released to date would increase, not reduce, the burgeoning long-term health costs facing the government, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf said Thursday.

The Democrats and President Obama have cited two goals in their overhaul proposals — expanding coverage to the estimated 47 million Americans who currently lack it and bringing down long-term costs because the growth in Medicare and Medicaid spending threatens to swamp the federal budget in coming years.

Under questioning from Chairman Kent Conrad , D-N.D., Elmendorf told the Senate Budget Committee that the congressional proposals released so far do not meet that second test.

“In the legislation that has been reported, we do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending by a significant amount and, on the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs,” he said. [read more]

But we knew that.

It’s just nice to have official confirmation that Obama is a bald-faced liar.