Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wisc.) just called the funding scheme of the Senate bill a “Ponzi scheme” that would “make Bernie Madoff proud.”
Ryan said he had a tremendous amount of respect for the CBO, and that they do their job well. But he said that the CBO’s job is to score what is put in front of them, and what has been put in front of them is “a bill full of gimmicks and smoke and mirrors.”
Ryan called the removal of the “doc fix” — hundreds of billions passed each year to stem cuts to Medicare reimbursement rates — from the cost of the bill was “the most cynical gimmick” contained therein. “Hiding costs does not reduce costs,” Ryan said.