Senator Harry Reid’s Hide and Seek ObamaCare Bill

On Saturday, I reported that all 40 Republican Senators signed a letter demanding to see the health care bill Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) claimed he sent to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).  Yesterday, Reid circulated a Dear Colleague letter in response – thanks to Christina Bellantoni of TMPDC for publishing the letter.  Reid claimed in the letter that he does not have a bill, notwithstanding the fact he had a press conference a week ago to announce a deal.  

Last Monday, Roll Call reported that “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is expected to announce on Monday afternoon that negotiations on the Senate’s final health care reform bill have concluded and that he is sending the measure to the Congressional Budget Office, according to Democratic sources.”  At the press conference, Reid said “today’s development, my sending of, in the next few hours, to CBO a – number of – anyways the proposal we are sending them for their scoring will make us a step closer to achieving a bill this year.”  Specifically, Reid asserted that he is going to include a public option with an opt out provision in the bill, then at the 1:24 mark of the video linked above said that the public option would be “included in the bill we submitted, that will be submitted to the Senate.”  Sounds like Reid announced a deal on a bill, yet in the letter Reid backed away and stated that his bill “does not exist.”

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Tags: CBO, federal deficit, government health care, Harry Reid, health care reform
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 9:39 am in Congress, Healthcare, Politics | 2470650 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/bdarling/2009/11/03/senator-harry-reids-hide-and-seek-obamacare-bill/Senator+Harry+Reid%27s+Hide+and+Seek+ObamaCare+Bill2009-11-03+16%3A39%3A05Brian+Darling