Gibbs calls RNC Chairman Steele 'delusional' for CBO claim

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is "delusional" to claim the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) figures can't be trusted, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.

Gibbs took a shot at Steele for alleging that the CBO, the nonpartisan group within Congress that estimates the costs of legislation, had been taken "to the woodshed" by the Obama administration, in order for the group to report more favorable numbers on healthcare reform legislation.

"This was, I think, predicated on the fact that he had, in his mind, deduced that the White House had pressured the Congressional Budget Office into coming up with statistics that were good for the bill," Gibbs said during his daily press briefing.

"I don't know how many questions I had been asked about CBO numbers in the last nine months," the press secretary added. "I think it's -- the notion that somehow this White House is in cahoots with the Congressional Budget Office is delusional, to put it mildly."

The CBO has reported a number of scorings of Democratic-led health bills in both the House and Senate. All of the bills range between $800 billion and $1 trillion in costs, though they're estimated to reduce the budget deficit over the next 10 years.

"I would suggest this for the RNC and for anybody that's in the Republican Party: There are millions of people that don't have health care this Christmas," Gibbs said. "Instead of giving chippy interviews, in might be good to actually be part of negotiations and a solution to get health-care reform -- to make health-care reform a reality for the American people."