In Which The News Journal Phones It In Again

…and show themselves to not be paying attention to one of the biggest legislative efforts of a lifetime.

Today The Editors (a term probably more symbolic than a reflection of the actual work being done) published an editorial in which they intone with all seriousness — Health plan will cost money: It’s time Washington admits it.

Where the hell have these people been all year? Beginning with hearings in the Senate a year and half or so ago though this spring and summer when actual bills have been written and voted out of various committees, there has been an incredible amount of work and horsetrading ongoing on on these bills. And the press has (some better than others) been following lots of the horserace (not as much on the features of the bills) — but one thing you do get if you are paying attention to this is that how to pay for it is complicated and contentious. But they are trying to pay for it.

So how do you — especially if your business is to watch these narratives — come away from the last few months not knowing that not only does Washington know that these programs will cost money, but that they are trying to pay for it?

Apparently the NJ Editors are following some radio talking head who wouldn’t be able to follow legislative ebb and flow if his life depended upon it. And now they’ve published this incredibly misinformed attempt at wagging their finger at a Congress and Administration that not only knows that this costs money, but has been very clear about attempts to pay for it and not add to the deficit.

Every health reform bill out there comes with a way to pay for the programs. Some are better than others and none of them is a silver bullet. I can’t tell you whether any one of them does what it says it will in terms of paying for itself perfectly. But not one of them pretends that these programs don’t cost money.

It simply amazes me that these people can get themselves worked up to scold people for non-existent reasons. The people in DC working on this are pretty clear (as evidenced by the bills they are producing) that they have to pay for this. They may or may not be successful at paying for these programs as they go. In this, however, they are not like the Bush Administration and their Republican Congresses who deficit-financed every single program they implemented — from tax cuts to Medicare Part D to their wars. That profligate deficit-spending deserved more finger-wagging than it got and it is remarkably brain-dead for the News Journal to discover the evils of deficits now, in the middle of a legislative effort that is pretty obviously trying not to add to it. If they weren’t trying to pay for this thing, it would have been passed by now.

Too bad the NJ doesn’t value its own column inches better than this.