Bad News For The GOP (With Updates)

The Congressional Budget Office just released its final numbers on the health care reform bill, and it is good news for the Democrats. Steve Benen sums it up:

[T]he final package costs $940 billion over 10 years. It reduces the deficit by $130 billion in the first decade, and $1.2 trillion in the second. The bill will bring coverage to 32 million Americans, while extending Medicare solvency by at least 9 years.

Democrats have begun calling the package the "biggest deficit reduction measure in 25 years," which happens to be true. It's also arguably the biggest cost control bill ever.

Also note, the final Democratic proposal lowers the deficit more than the previous versions. The Senate bill was projected to reduce the deficit by $118 billion in the first decade, and this one does even better. * * *

I have a $10 bet with Danimal that the House will pass the bill before the end of the day on Sunday, so this report gives me some hope that I might win that bet. Having a very active Dennis Kucinich on board doesn't hurt the Democrats' chances either:

A few hours after Rep. Dennis Kucinich switched his support to become a critical vote for the health care bill, he took to the House floor to ask wavering colleagues to join him. Astonished colleagues pointed to Kucinich (D-OH) darting from member to member on the House floor yesterday, saying privately they'd never seen him get so involved in whipping a vote.

It's not just progressives he's targeting to keep in the fold, it's everyone, a top Democratic aide told me. Members know that Kucinich - a staunch antiwar liberal long in favor of a single-payer system and often going out on a limb with his own agenda - is setting aside deep ideology to help get something passed. "It's a totally new dynamic. People are realizing he's doing it for history," the aide said. * * *

Even if this weekend's anticipated vote doesn't go the Democrats' way, the CBO report does give them a little cover. They can point out during the run-up to the 2010 mid-terms that the Republicans opposed a bill that actually reduced the deficit and extended Medicare solvency by at least nine years while providing health coverage to 32 million Americans who didn't have it before.

Of course, the Dems can more effectively use these arguments against the GOP if the bill passes. My hope here is that the House Democrats who are still on the fence will figure out that they are going to be attacked on health care reform no matter what happens with this bill, and that it would be better to defend themselves from a position of strength (i.e., defending a law that they passed without any GOP support) than from a position of weakness (i.e., defending a failed bill that they couldn't pass even though they controlled both branches of Congress and the White House).

UPDATE: How do we know the CBO numbers are bad for the GOP? Because the Republicans are attacking them.

UPDATE II: From First Read:

We’re told that the White House and House Dem leaders are fewer than five votes away from 216, after Dennis Kucinich’s no-to-yes switch yesterday and pro-life Dem Dale Kildee saying that he’s ok with the Senate bill’s abortion language. * * *