Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) sparred with CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Wednesday evening about the impact President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” would have on access to health care.
After Burchett said the media was lying about how many people would lose Medicaid coverage, Keilar noted that those numbers ― showing nearly 12 million would lose access ― come from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
“So you’re taking issue with the CBO estimate here?” she asked.
“Yes ma’am, I do have an issue with it. The office is very partisan,” Burchett said, saying much of the staff are Democrats. “We ought to do away with these organizations because we use them when we like them. We don’t use them when we don’t like them.”
But Keilar had some receipts.
“So, in January 2024, there was a Republican who trusted the CBO so much that they reintroduced a resolution to require the House clerk to read the CBO estimate of any bill,” she said. “I believe that was you, sir. The third time you introduced that resolution? Is that right?”
Burchett insisted that he hasn’t changed his tune, saying he’d rather have a private accounting firm determine the economic impact of each bill, but “the CBO is the only organization we have.”
“The reality is the CBO is a partisan organization,” he said. “And the reality is, America has a right to know how much we’re spending on every piece of legislation.”
Burchett said it was all about transparency, but Keilar wasn’t buying his logic.
“Yet you wanted to have the CBO estimate, and you’re now railing against CBO estimates,” she pointed out.
See their full exchange below:
Yahoo News – Latest News & Headlines
Read the full article .
