Gregg says health bills use 'Bernie Madoff accounting'

Health reform legislation suffers from "Bernie Madoff accounting," the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee asserted Thursday night.

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the ranking member of the Budget committee, likened the financing plan for healthcare reform bills to something Madoff, who was convicted of orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, might have developed.

"Well, there's a lot of Bernie Madoff accounting going on around here to try to make this health care bill look palatable from a financial standpoint," Gregg said during an appearance on Fox News. "They essentially took $300 billion of what should be health care reform, which is to pay the doctors a fair wage, a fair salary, and moved it off budget and said, 'Oh, we don't have to worry about that.'"

Republicans, especially Gregg, have long criticized the financing plans for the healthcare reform legislation, including lamenting cuts to Medicare contained within the bill to finance the new initiatives in part.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has provided varying estimates of the costs and financing for the programs. The bill to have emerged from the Senate Finance Committee would come in under $900 billion and save money in the long run, the CBO said, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said in recent days that more detailed CBO scorings of House proposals show similar outcomes.

The New Hampshire Republican, who was once President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Commerce Department, alleged that the math for the programs does not add up to the tune of $1 trillion.

"they're -- they're literally going to be short about a trillion dollars," he said. "I mean, that's the simple fact."