“Conceptual Language” bill is the democrats “Smoke and Mirrors”

brokenPromise From the Republican Party of Texas:

The US Senate Finance Committee voted today to pass the so-called Baucus Bill for health care reform. The bill is not yet a bill yet, it’s only “conceptual language.” It’s not real legislation. It’s a collection of brainstorm ideas. It’s “vaporware.”

But what we know of the concepts it includes are enough to know that it ought to be opposed. The Congressional Budget Office scored it last week and rated that it would “save” $81 billion, but that score is base on several highly suspect features including the Obama administration’s widely panned economic forecasts. The CBO’s score itself is misleading because it takes into account 10 years of higher taxes included in the “conceptual language” to pay for the plan, but only 7 years of its actual expenses. That’s how they forced it into deficit neutrality to make it more palatable. If the CBO had forecast 10 years of revenues plus 10 years of expenses, the score would show a growing deficit. The Democrats gamed the CBO to produce a score that doesn’t and never will reflect reality. In addition to that blatant dishonesty, the Baucus Concept itself mandates massive new taxes, which will provide enough economic drag to render the Obama administration’s own economic growth forecasts meaningless. So the bottom line is, this vaporware bill expands the already massive national debt and will hurt an already ailing economy, and for what? To insure a few percent who are not currently insured. And among those will be some who are forced to buy insurance, or be taxed to death for choosing not to. That will hurt real families. It will cost jobs. It will do more harm than good, if indeed it does any good at all. This is a bad bill and no Republican ought to support it, and any Texas Democrats who support it ought to be voted out of office. We’re watching the Texas Democrats in Congress and will update our web site when they vote on this and other vital legislation that will impact Texas. And have no doubt that the Baucus Brainstorms will impact Texas, since states will be expected to pick up much of the tab for Washington’s health care mischief. In Texas we work to keep your taxes low, only to have the Democrats in Washington work to raise them. Texas Democrats just want to help the Washington Democrats raise your taxes higher and faster.

By the way, the Democrats know that whatever bill ultimately passes the full Senate will have to get reconciled with whatever passes the House. And Sen Harry Reid is already larding up the Baucus Bluff with junk from some of the even more leftwing bills. That’s one reason they’re working from “conceptual language” rather than an actual bill. They don’t want the American people to read and understand just what it is the Democrats plan to do to the one-sixth of our economy that is the health care sector. They want the power, sure. They just don’t want to have to answer for how they use it until it’s too late to stop them.

Texas Republicans favor a few simple, consumer-friendly reforms to get health care prices under control. These reforms include tort reform to end the frivolous lawsuits that drive up health care costs, a reform that the CBO estimates would truly reduce the deficit. Republican reforms also include allowing interstate competition for health care plans, and increasing portability. We also support support allowing small businesses to join together to purchase quality health care benefits for their workers at a more affordable price, just as many large businesses and unions are allowed to do.

We strongly oppose government-centered, top-down statist “solutions” like those the Democrats are proposing. The Democrats’ plans will increase government power and reduce individual freedom, and will not rein in health care costs.