By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
In rolling out their "Pledge to America" last year, House Republicans repeatedly cited Congressional Budget Office research as proof President Obama's health care overhaul was too expensive.
"Even with some advanced warning, you're talking about a big job, and CBO staff, I think, will be working around the clock to do it in two or three weeks if it's a complicated package," said Rudolph G. Penner, who directed the CBO from 1983 to 1987.
"When you are at CBO, they demand getting an estimate that they then regard as being absolutely certain — no possibility for error at all."
