It’s baa-ack.
A piece of legislation I pilloried just a few months ago, in the waning days of the speakership of Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is scheduled to come to the House floor this week. The move to resurrect the legislation, which had heretofore been left for dead, comes not because Republican leadership made substantive changes to attract conservative Republicans, but instead because it appealed for greater support from Democrats. It’s the latest example of how new House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has continued the swampy ways of his predecessor.
Billions in New Spending
To be clear, the legislation, officially titled the “Lower Costs, More Transparency Act,” contains some provisions that will benefit consumers. Making prices more available will allow patients to shop around for better deals, hopefully leading prices within health care to moderate, if not decline outright.
But as previously outlined in September, these provisions amount to lipstick on the proverbial pig. The measure contains various “health extenders” that House Republican “leaders” consider — wrongly — “must-pass” legislation. While those “leaders” are trying to sell the measure as a transparency bill, the engine driving this legislative train is its new spending — nearly $15 billion worth.
To that end, the bill:
Violates House Rules: The bill front-loads its spending in its first two years, using 10 years of “pay-fors” to fund two years of spending — a fiscal gimmick similar to Democrats’ Build Back Bankrupt legislation. That violates the House’s CUTGO rule, which states that legislation cannot increase
