SPOTLIGHT: CBO playing major role in reform politics

While analysts are as careful as possible, the Congressional Budget Office's leadership is completely willing to admit that the numbers it produces are guesstimates, at best. That, however, hasn't stopped lawmakers from clinging to CBO analyses of reform bills like holy writ--and in some cases, killing reform bills before they are fully born. The question is whether this is a bad thing, or if CBO data is as good as it's going to get. Article