Live from CBO: There is one very important thing to recognize about the year of Repeal and Replace is that the CBO's power and influence was at a maximum even though its bureaucratic influence was zero. The bureaucratic influence of CBO comes from the fact that the midpoint of its ranges determine whether pieces of legislation do not or do fit within the parameters of the Reconciliation process and the Budget Enforcement Act, and thus are or are not subject to a 60-vote point-of-order in the Senate. But those questions have never been at issue this year. And yet the CBO has wielded enormous influence, just by saying what it thinks the effects of proposed pieces of legislation are.
That is an amazing accomplishment.
