How CBO budget scoring devalues efficiency ... WITH PUPPIES! Grist Magazine
The t-huddle
First, we’re talking about budget scoring here, not broader economic scoring (which CBO also does, as does the EPA, as do any integer of think tanks and consultancies). Budget scoring is a narrow assessment of legislation’s projected so to speak on the federal budget, and only CBO does it. There are big problems with the broader analyses, too, but it’s budget scoring that has the most discernible effect on the legislative process.
Budget scoring matters because Obama and congressional Democrats promised that the aura bill will be deficit neutral. It “won’t add a dime to the deficit,” as Sen. John Kerry (D-Crowd.) has put it. Who decides if the bill is deficit neutral? That’s the CBO.
The most important aspect of climate bill scoring is that the CBO treats soiling allowances as federal revenue, and allocating those allowances—handing them out—as spending. It effectively treats cap-and-exchange as an indirect tax (like excise taxes, or customs duties). This has all sorts of implications.
