Newt Gingrich said that President Trump should abolish the Congressional Budget Office when asked what he thought about the CBO report about the Republican "American Health Care Act" meant to replace Obamacare. He made the comments Monday on Fox News with Martha MacCallum.
"I want to get your thoughts on the scoring by the CBO on the GOP health care bill," MacCallum asked, "Do you like it, or not?"
"They should abolish the Congressional Budget Office," Gingrich said, implying he did not like the bill. "It is corrupt, it is dishonest, it was totally wrong on Obamacare by huge huge margins. I don't trust a single word they have published and I don't believe them."
"But the head of it is a Trump appointee," MacCallum objected, "and in many ways I think people miss, people maybe misjudge what they're supposed to do. I mean their job is to figure out whether or not this is something that can get through on reconciliation. Not to make a judgement about the whole bill."
"I could care less," Gingrich answered. "No. They lie, let me be very clear. Let me be very clear. OK, I helped balance the budge four straight times the only time in your lifetime. We fought the Congressional Budget Office every time."
"When Obamacare came out," he explained, "they used the architect of Obamacare as their advisor on how to score Obamacare, and their scoring, you go back and look at it, it is a totally dishonest, disgustingly wrong, and it is, that whole thing should be abolished."
They should replace it by putting it out to bid and having three to five professional firms score these things. Nobody has an exact score, it's not possible. Even tonight, Dr. Tom Price, the Secretary of Health and Human Services pointed out there are whole sections of this bill they didn't score.
"So I really do think it's disgusting," he concluded. "And I'm really disappointed that the Republicans haven't abolished the Congressional Budget Office, because it's so profoundly dishonest."
.@newtgingrich: “They should abolish the Congressional Budget Office. It is corrupt, it is dishonest, it was totally wrong on #Obamacare.” pic.twitter.com/T2ZclPBN5o
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 13, 2017
The Congressional Budget Office report estimated that 24 million people would lose their insurance coverage by 2024, though many have pointed out that some of those would simply be people who didn't want insurance and would no longer be forced to have it. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) took the opportunity to slam the Republican bill, while House Speaker Paul Ryan was more upbeat, saying that the report exceeded his expectations.
Trump has backed the Republican replacement bill which Ryan characterized as a "an act of mercy" on the "nightmare that is Obamacare." Charles Krauthammer opined what many believe - if conservative Republicans defeat the bill for being too watered down, it would be a major blow to the president.
Carlos Garcia
Staff Writer
