As ObamaCare sinks in the polls, Democrats are complaining that the critics are distorting their proposals. But the truth is that the closer one inspects the actual details, the worse it all looks. Today’s example is the vast debt canyon that would open just beyond the 10-year window under which the bill is officially “scored” for cost purposes.


The press corps has noticed the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that the House health bill increases the deficit by $239 billion over the next decade. But government-run health care won’t turn into a pumpkin after a decade. The underreported news is the new spending that will continue to increase well beyond the 10-year period that CBO examines, and that this blowout will overwhelm even the House Democrats’ huge tax increases, Medicare spending cuts and other “pay fors.”

Feinberg's appointment adds to a long list of so-called czars -- as many as 21 -- who play powerful roles in Obama's government.

There is a drug czar responsible for trying to control the flood of illegal drugs into the United States. A U.S. border czar works on issues along the turbulent U.S.-Mexican border.

The urban czar works on city issues, while the stimulus accountability czar tries to ensure the $787 billion in economic stimulus funds is spent properly.

An Iran czar is seeking to improve U.S. relations with Iran and head off its nuclear ambitions. An energy czar has the global-warming portfolio.

The idea is to have one person ultimately responsible for an issue and avoid problems of overlapping bureaucracies that previous administrations have experienced. But the system has its critics.

Republican Senator John McCain has complained that Obama has "more czars than the Romanovs," who ruled Russia for three centuries.

Some members of Congress complain about czars, because they did not go through the usual Senate confirmation process like other top officials but have a big hand in government actions involving many billions of dollars.

The car czar, for example, oversees auto company bailouts of around $50 billion, while the bank bailout czar has $700 billion in bailouts to look after.

"You can imagine from the perspective of the Senate that you're dealing with people who do not have confirmation to go through and so are not accountable in the same way. I think that's what rankles some people in the Senate," said Norman Ornstein, a political expert at the American Enterprise Institute.

He also said having czars has the potential of confusing lines of authority that can "create tensions, messiness in government."

SEN. DEMINT: If over the next six months $50 billion comes back, will $50 billion go into the general fund of the United States?

SEC. GEITHNER: The way the TARP is designed -- and I didn't design this -- but the way it's designed is every dollar that comes back goes into the general fund but that does still create additional head room under the $700 billion authority for us to make capital investments -- make investments. So we have the ability to still use the $700 billion if we think there's a strong case for doing that, but the way the program works is a dollar comes in and goes to the general fund but still creates additional room for us to make a new --

SEN. DEMINT: So your understanding of what we did is that the Treasury now has $700 billion that it can use permanently, rotating in and out of the capital markets as you see fit?

SEC. GEITHNER: Well, I'm not quite sure permanent, but you're right.

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SEN. DEMINT: Are you working on a plan to show us of how you are going to move out of all this market, the ownership of General Motors, the ownership of AIG, all the money in the private banking? I mean, you've got a plan?

SEC. GEITHNER: Senator, as I said to Ranking Member Shelby at the beginning, this is a very important issue to me. We think about this a lot and there will be a time when we will be able to come to you and say here's how the unwinding process will work. But it's too early to do that now.