The Note: Waiting for the CBO Score

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March 13, 2017

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Waiting for the CBO Score

The Big Story

There hasn't been a CBO score this hotly anticipated since, well, the last time Congress was poised to act on a major health care overhaul. While the Trump administration is setting things up to basically ignore it – hello, "alternative facts" – there are other realities that will be impossible to ignore. With town-hall heat continuing, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas – no squishy moderate – came up with a catchy and stark warning about electoral consequences, raising the possibility of losing control of Congress next year: "Do not walk the plank and vote for a bill that cannot pass the Senate and then have to face the consequences of that vote," Cotton said on ABC News' "This Week" Sunday. Then there is President Trump's "insurance for everybody" promise, and related guarantees that will be as impossible to keep as President Obama's much-maligned statement that you could keep your doctor. "I firmly believe that nobody will be worse off financially in the process that we're going through," Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Sunday. House Speaker Paul Ryan wouldn't even go there when asked how many people would lose coverage: "I can't answer that question," the Wisconsin Republican said.

The Sleeper Story

It's been a week since the Trump White House punted to Congress rather than provide evidence to back up what President Trump alleged about President Obama's ordering his phones tapped. Congress is now doing what the president said he wanted done, and the noise on that front will only get louder. Letters are flying demanding evidence from federal agencies, with a public hearing on Russia ties coming next week. It's only a matter of time before FBI Director James Comey is put on the record on Capitol Hill. GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona is making clear the choices ahead for the president: "Either retract or to provide the information that the American people deserve," he told CNN. The president may be counting on other news to crowd out his unsubstantiated allegation, but putting this on Congress may actually ensure it doesn't disappear. "I think there's a lot more shoes to drop," McCain said.

The Shiny Story

Yes, President Trump had the right and power to oust U.S. attorneys who were holdovers from the Obama years. No, that doesn't mean he had to do it this way, and at this time. The circumstances of the dismissals, particularly surrounding that of Preet Bharara, an aggressive anti-corruption prosecutor and a model for a character on Showtime's "Billions," gives the White House a new set of high-profile enemies. Bharara's Tweet on Sunday – "By the way, now I know what the Moreland Commission must have felt like" – looks like a hint that he was digging in to something involving the Trump administration. (The Moreland Commission was an anti-corruption probe launched by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York, only to be abruptly shut down before it completed its work. Bharara's Southern District of New York would have authority over Trump Tower, as well as Fox News headquarters.) Once again, the usual business of governing is anything but business as usual under the Trump administration.