--- title: Health Care: Former CBO Directors Defend the Agency description: Every former director of the Congressional Budget Office has signed a letter urging Congress to "respect" CBO. canonical: https://time.com/4868338/health-care-cbo-congress/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-21T15:35:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:40:11.441Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republicans Bashed This Budget Scorekeeper. Now Every Former Director Is Speaking Up og:description: The White House and Republican leaders in Congress have criticized the CBO. og:url: https://time.com/4868338/health-care-cbo-congress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb5a17618a66f26c9/6988d588fb4eac43be892e26/170713_us-capitol.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: 170713_US Capitol og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republicans Bashed This Budget Scorekeeper. Now Every Former Director Is Speaking Up twitter:description: The White House and Republican leaders in Congress have criticized the CBO. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb5a17618a66f26c9/6988d588fb4eac43be892e26/170713_us-capitol.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republicans Bashed This Budget Scorekeeper. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 21, 2017 3:35 PM UTC  The U.S. Capitol building stands past visitors at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. The U.S. Capitol building stands past visitors at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 21, 2017 3:35 PM UTC Every former director of the Congressional Budget Office has signed a letter urging Congress to “respect” the agency, which has [released estimates](http://time.com/4866778/cbo-health-care-bill-uninsured-insurance/?iid=sr-link3) that millions of people would lose insurance under the Republican health care plan. “Relying on CBO’s estimates in the legislative process has served the Congress — and the American people — very well during the past four decades,” [the letter](https://medium.com/@douglas.elmendorf/letter-from-former-cbo-directors-on-the-importance-of-cbos-role-in-the-legislative-process-278863b7e1c6) concludes. “As the House and Senate consider potential policy changes this year and in the years ahead, we urge you to maintain and respect the Congress’s decades-long reliance on CBO’s estimates in developing and scoring bills.” The missive comes as Republican leaders in the White House and Congress have criticized CBO for its scoring of the healthcare options the GOP is considering. “I think that’s kind of a bogus number,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said of the latest estimate that 22 million more people would be uninsured under the plan. The White House released a video saying CBO’s “math doesn’t add up” and accusing them of “faulty numbers.” > [](https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/885202925370224641) Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget director, accused CBO of being partisan back in May in [an interview with the Washington _Examiner_](http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/mick-mulvaney-the-day-of-the-cbo-has-probably-come-and-gone/article/2624609). “At some point, you’ve got to ask yourself,” he said, “‘Has the day of the CBO come and gone?'” The White House director of legislative affairs and a National Economic Council aide [criticized the agency](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-fundamental-error-in-the-cbos-health-care-projections/2017/07/14/25f0d8a4-67ee-11e7-a1d7-9a32c91c6f40%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.3bb35b435a5d) in an op-ed in the Washington _Post_ earlier this month, as did Reps. Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan in [an op-ed in the conservative Washington _Examiner_](http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/reps-mark-meadows-and-jim-jordan-the-truth-behind-the-cbo/article/2629287) Friday. Both the [White House](http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/23/529710769/trump-budget-plan-relies-on-optimistic-growth-assumptions-analysts-say) and the [House of Representatives](http://thehill.com/policy/finance/342862-house-committee-advances-budget-resolution) released budgets this year that relied on their own economic assumptions rather than CBO growth projections. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4868338/health-care-cbo-congress/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4868338/health-care-cbo-congress/"},"headline":"Republicans Bashed This Budget Scorekeeper. 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