DCCC targets Republicans over CBO projection, healthcare tax credits

Democrats have been taking plenty of hits on healthcare, but they are also seeking to play some offense too.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has seized on the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) estimate Thursday that the healthcare bill will cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 20 years.

Issuing strategic press releases in a few dozen districts, they are trying to cast the Republicans voting against the healthcare bill as voting against deficit reduction and tax credits for small businesses.

“Representative Michele Bachmann will soon have a chance to back up all of her tough talk about the need to reduce the deficit when the House votes on health insurance reform,” the DCCC says in a release targeting the Minnesota Republican. “Bachmann can either vote for health insurance reform, which will reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion over 20 years or she can continue protecting the status quo for big insurance companies instead.”

Democrats note that tax credits to small business who offer healthcare are a popular concept, with 75 percent favoring the idea in a February Newsweek poll.

A DCCC release on that topic asks whether the GOP incumbent will “support tax relief 20,000 small businesses in his district” or side with big health insurance companies.