After a fair amount of delay — caused by Democrats jiggering and re-jiggering the bill’s language to get the best numbers — the Congressional Budget Office’s score of the final healthcare reform package was released Thursday morning.
According to the CBO, the bill will cost $940 billion over the first decade, more than either the original Senate or House bill did. But it will also reduce the deficit more than either of those proposals did — $130 billion over the first ten years, and $1.2 trillion in the decade after that.
With the score finally out, the clock starts ticking to a vote in the House. That could now come as early as Sunday.
