Budget Umpire: Health Care Bills Would Raise Costs

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR,
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Democrats' health care bills won't meet President Barack Obama's goal of slowing the ruinous rise of medical costs, Congress' budget umpire warned on Thursday, giving weight to critics who say the legislation could break the bank.

The sobering assessment from Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf came as House Democrats pushed to pass a partisan bill through committees, while in the Senate a small group of lawmakers continued to seek a deal that could win support from both political parties.

With the pressure mounting on all sides, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., dismissed as "a waste of money" a television ad campaign by Obama's political organization aiming to nudge moderate Democrats off the fence. He called it "Democrats running ads against Democrats."

From the beginning of the health care debate, Obama has insisted that any overhaul must "bend the curve" of rapidly rising costs that threaten to swamp the budgets of government, businesses and families.

Asked by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., if the evolving legislation would bend the cost curve, the budget director responded that "the curve is being raised."

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