Frank Pasquale
Jul 21, 2017 · 1 min read

The CBO needs to answer some questions for the public.

  1. Why has it consistently overestimated the cost of so many efforts to bring universal coverage to the US? https://balkin.blogspot.com/2009/07/politicized-prognostication-at-cbo.html
  2. Why does it continually push for Fair Value Accounting?: https://balkin.blogspot.com/2016/03/fair-value-accounting-debunked-again.html
  3. You state “To meet the standard of nonpartisan objectivity, CBO makes no recommendations about policy, regularly consults with researchers and practitioners with a wide range of views.” Have you consulted with anyone who made points similar to the ones in the posts at 1 and 2 above? Have you, for example, discussed with Tim Westmoreland his powerful critique of CBO’s scoring of health legislation?
  4. Let me be clear: I do not think the AHCA or the BCRA are good policy. However, I don’t need the CBO’s politicized prognostication to make that clear. I agree with Jeff Spross: It is time to demote the CBO (http://theweek.com/articles/712148/demote-cbo), unless it opens itself up to a wider range of perspectives on the value of public programs and proper methods of public accounting.
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    Frank Pasquale

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