President Obama Wants Some More Money for Health Care

Having already dedicated multiple trillions of dollars for various programs – both aimed at pulling the U.S. out of a recession and at various pet projects – President Barack Obama yesterday suggested new budget rules that would enable Congress to borrow tens of billions more to help kick off his administration’s health care plan. The plan would somehow locate $2.5 trillion worth of exemptions for priorities in the Obama health care plan over the next 10 years, and would make it acceptable to run heavy deficits in the early years of the new health care plan.

Further indicated in the plan is a requirement by Congress members to pay for all new spending programs and tax cuts without adding to the already ridiculous federal deficit. In the event that new spending or cuts in taxes were not offset, automatic cuts in "mandatory" programs would kick in, though Social Security and Medicaid for the poor would be exempt. Cuts to Medicare would likewise by quite limited. Said Obama of the "new" plan, "The ‘pay-as-you-go’ rule is very simple. Congress can only spend a dollar if it saves a dollar elsewhere."

Obama had suggested a different plan last month – one that would entirely prohibit Congress from adding to the deficit by delaying payments to later tax years. The difference in the new plan is that it basically mimics existing congressional rules and, in essence, means that the U.S. deficit will balloon by billions in the next several years to pay for health care initiatives. The move also drew criticism from some Democrats, though Republicans were, as expected more harsh in their comments. House GOP leader John Boehner noted, "Time after time this year, Democrats have ignored calls for fiscal responsibility. We don’t need more rhetoric and gimmicks. We need action to tackle the tremendous fiscal challenges facing this nation."