Today, US BudgetWatch updated its Charts Comparing Health Care Reform Bills. The publication compares the House and Senate health care bills through two text charts and four graphs, all exploring different metrics.

Here at The Bottom Line, we have republished the graphs in a way that makes them both interactive and sharable. That means you can explore the charts here, or feauture them on your own website or blog...

Yesterday, the House passed legislation permanently updating physical payments on a deficit-financed basis (against our urging). Although passed separately from their health care bill, it is worth looking comprehensively at the cost of health care reform, as passed by the House of Representatives so far...

Today, a Wall Street Journal editorial discussed Senator John Thune’s introduction yesterday of a bill that would prevent Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner from extending TARP. The bill would prevent the Treasury from making any new loans, equity purchases, or transfers to financial institutions, but would not affect the $386 billion in outstanding investments...

Information about the Senate health care bill is trickling in -- word is that coverage provisions will cost $849 billion over ten years and the bill will reduce the deficit by $127 billion. The Joint Committee on taxation has also released its analysis of the bill's $370 billion in taxes.

Compared to the Senate Finance bill, this bill would reduce the tax on high-cost insurance plans so it raises around $150 billion instead of $200 billion, and make up the difference with an increase in the Medicare payroll tax for high earners. At least from a fiscal perspective, this is a big mistake.

We've discussed, before, all of the advantages of an excise tax on high cost plans. For one, since the tax is on health insurance, it grows as fast or faster than health care costs, and therefore makes it a sustainable revenue source.

CRFB has updated its health care chart, comparing the ten-year costs of the most recent legislation passed by the House and the bill introduced by Senator Reid in the Senate yesterday. To compare the most recent Senate bills with the previous HELP and Finance Committee bills, click here...

On Friday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a report estimating the effects of the House health care reform bill. Looking only at the spending side of the ledger, they estimate both greater costs and greater savings than does CBO -- netting to roughly $60 billion less overall. We have compiled the differences here, but it is important to note that CBO and CMS work off of different Medicare baselines, meaning that greater savings need not mean lower overall federal spending...

UPDATE: Stan Collender thinks we might be making ice mountains out of snow hills.

According to a number of news reports, President Obama has begun asking agencies to plan for a discretionary spending freeze next year -- or perhaps a 5 percent cut. The President may propose such as initiative as part of a deficit-cutting themed State of the Union address in January...

This morning, a Wall Street Journal article reported that the White House intends to use some of the remaining TARP cash for deficit reduction, while also keeping some funds available for emergencies.

The article reported that the Administration is also expected to lower the ten-year cost of the program from $341 billion, as reported in OMB’s Mid-Session Review, to $200 billion. This reduction is a result of two factors: lower expected spending and more optimistic assumptions regarding payback rates...

In a recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), mid-year budget shortfalls, totaling $16 billion or 4 percent of these budgets, have already opened up in 26 states. As the mid-point of FY 2010 (which began July 1 in most states) approaches, states have seen revenues fall below previous projections. Our friends over at Value Added have also commented on the report here.

Yesterday, Council of Economic Advisers Chair Christina Romer spoke at the Center for American Progress on Health Care Reform and the Budget Deficit.

Romer aimed to make the case the health reform was the key to deficit reduction, explaining...