One of the clarion calls of the anti-health-care-reform set has been "Read The Bill!" -- the idea being that reform proponents were either trying to pull a fast one by furnishing a too-long-to-digest bill (I used this technique when I wrote my graduate school thesis!) or were going to add to the long term health care costs by producing legislation that promised 2,000 pages worth of paper cuts. Well, maybe Republicans should be given the chance to take all the time they need to read the new House health-care reform bill. As it turns out, they might like it!
That's the message from Igor Volsky over at Wonk Room, who identifies (yes, in a listicle!) ten reasons why the Republicans should support the bill that's come out of the House. As he points out, "while the party may oppose the bill's provisions to tax the top 0.3% of Americans to fund reform or the new fees imposed on the pharmaceutical industry to help close the donut hole in Medicare Part D, on the whole, the 1,990 page bill is a fairly moderate proposal that incorporates numerous conservative policies."
The top-line reason? It achieves deficit neutrality:
REPUBLICANS ASKED FOR - DEFICIT NEUTRAL BILL: "Do the American people believe that this almost 2,000 page bill won't add to the deficit?" [Rep. Eric Cantor, 10/29/2009]
HOUSE BILL - DEFICIT NEUTRAL BILL: According to the Congressional Budget Office, the House bill costs $894 billion over 10 years and actually reduces the deficit by $30 billion and continues to reduce the deficit over the second 10 years.
You -- or Mike Pence, maybe? -- can check out nine more reasons the GOP should learn to stop worrying and love the House Health Care Reform bill by clicking here.
RELATED:
Top 10 Reasons Why Republicans Should Support The House Health Bill [Wonk Room]
[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]