The news this week that President Obama’s health care law authorizes $55 billion more in spending than anticipated has drawn a promise from the White House that they will cut that amount of money from existing spending if necessary.
They have given no details, however, on what exactly they would cut, even though $55 billion is a full tenth of what the government puts aside every year for what is known as discretionary spending.
The White House is also emphasizing that the new $115 billion price tag from the the CBO for “discretionary spending” in the health-care bill — up from $60 billion in the CBO’s March estimate — is not guaranteed spending.
“Whether that spending will ultimately occur will depend on future appropriation actions,” the CBO said in a clarifying letter released on Wednesday.
Much of the reporting this week said that the CBO estimated an increase of $115 billion in cost. That is incorrect. The increase in their estimate was $55 billion, from $60 billion in March to $115 billion now.
And, in fact, the total increase in expected cost of the bill may only be $29 billion. The CBO said that $86 billion of the $115 billion had already been authorized to be spent anyway.
Nonetheless, if Congress does decide to spend the full amount authorized on the health bill, Obama, according to his budget office, will veto spending bills if they push the overall level of discretionary spending above its current trajectory.
That will mean cuts from other spending not related to health care. The White House has not outlined what they intend to cut, and argue that they cannot until appropriations bills are being written that show where money is going to go.
Obama has implemented a three-year freeze on non-security discretionary spending at 2010 levels, which is estimated to save about $250 billion over 10 years.
However, the freeze is on less than 13 percent of the total federal budget, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Discretionary spending is money that is not locked in through entitlement programs or other means. It often refers to one-time expenditures, and is considered optional spending, whereas non-discretionary spending is mandatory.
Non-security discretionary spending makes up about $520 billion of this year’s budget, while security spending is $895 billion. Mandatory spending is the biggest part of the pie, clocking in at $2.165 trillion. And interest on the debt is a staggering $251 billion.
Despite the assurances from the White House, the American public is more skeptical than ever about the health care law’s costs, according to a new poll released this week by Rasmussen Reports.
The poll found that 63 percent of 1,000 likely voters surveyed expect the law, which the White House says will reduce the deficit by over $100 billion in its first decade, to actually increase the deficit.
And one line in the CBO letter issued Wednesday indicates the hurried nature in which the final health care bill was pushed through the Congress.
“Because of time constraints, CBO could not do a complete analysis of discretionary costs at that time,” the letter said, referring to the March 13 report that was issued eight days before the legislation was passed by the House.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday the House voted 246-to-171 to clarify a provision in the health care bill that defines who can receive government-provided care.
“The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to include children of Vietnam War and certain Korean War veterans receiving care and services through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for spina bifida-related medical conditions,” a Republican aide said.
Rep. Tom Price, Georgia Republican, said the change was evidence that “Democrats left a trail of mistakes they are now rushing to fix.”