Sen. Gregg Admits That Health Care Reform Lowers The Deficit

Today, the Congressional Budget Office released a preliminary analysis of the health care reconciliation package, finding that the bill would reduce the deficit by $130 billion in the first 10 years and $1.3 trillion by 2029. 

Those numbers are inconvenient for congressional Republicans, who have continually insisted that health care reform will increase the deficit.  For instance, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) claimed yesterday that the Democratic plan would "double and triple our national debt."

In addition, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) has previously called the Democrats' push for health care reform "the most egregious example of the problem of expanding the deficit and expanding the debt on our children."   

However, appearing on MSNBC today, Gregg seemed to concede that his prior argument was wrong.  Asked about CBO's analysis, Gregg begrudgingly admitted that "under this bill, you'll get a net savings."

Watch:

Gregg will obviously continue to oppose the bill on other grounds, but his concession undermines the Republican rhetoric on the deficit.