The CBO just gave House Republicans a big
reason to reject Boehner's plan
(Larry Downing/Reuters)
Don't get me wrong, here: John Boehner's plan is awful. It would cut $1.8 trillion from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and (like Reid's plan) it would severely cut discretionary spending (though it would cut more up front than Reid, making it worse).
But it turns out his numbers were a bit off. Instead of cutting the $1.2 trillion Boehner claims his bill would cut, the Congressional Budget Office just released an analysis showing it cuts $850 billion. That's a $350 billion difference—nearly one-third the total amount he claimed to have cut. Even when CBO used Boehner's staff preferred baseline, the cut was $1.1 trillion.
Now as far as I'm concerned, it's sort of funny that Boehner sucks at math (or maybe that he's just a big liar), but let's engage in a bit of concern trolling for a moment and consider what already-skittish House Republicans will think when they find out about this report.
They're going to find out that instead of voting for a $1.2 trillion spending cut, they'd be supporting an $850 billion spending cut. (The horrors!) And instead of giving themselves something to brag about to their teabagger base, they'll be opening themselves up to a challenge from a nutcase like Christine O'Donnell. So instead of voting for a bill that's already doomed in the Senate and would be vetoed even if it weren't, a lot of these guys will just say no, and spare Harry Reid and Barack Obama the hassle. And that's just fine by me.