'Nonpartisan' CBO's health division overwhelmingly staffed by Dems, GOP-aligned group says

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EXCLUSIVE: A division of the Congressional Budget Office, the agency charged with providing budget and economic information to lawmakers, is stacked with liberal Democrats, putting into question its long-standing reputation of being nonpartisan. 

The American Accountability Foundation, a conservative government research nonprofit, found that much of the CBO's Health Analysis Division is made up of Democrats or Democratic donors.

Of the 32 staff members in the division, 26 of them, or 84%, have "clearly" verified liberal partisan biases, being either a Democrat donor, a registered Democrat, or a Democratic primary voter, the group said in a memo outlining its findings, which come ahead of potential scrutiny of President Donald Trump's budget request. 

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Copies of President Barack Obama's proposed federal budget plan for fiscal year 2014 is prepared for delivery at the U.S. Government Printing Office. (AP)

"The CBO likes to call itself ‘nonpartisan’ in an attempt to disguise its role as an undercover leftist think tank," AAF President Tom Jones said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "In fact, the CBO is institutionally progressive, with 84% of its professional healthcare staff members being registered Democrats. These same staff members, who are on record donating to radicals like Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton, ‘score’ legislation and present it to the American people like it’s sacrosanct."

Jones accused the CBO staffers of not just voting left, but using their influence to promote progressive policy changes. 

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"The Health Analysis Division has been overtaken by liberal group think," the memo states. "As policymakers consider pronouncements and scores from CBO over the coming weeks, they should regard those from the Health Care Analysis Division with deep suspicion and should likely disregard them as the product of a politically biased policy shop, much as they would analysis from an institution like the Center for American Progress."

The HAD is tasked with analyzing federal programs and policies that include Medicare, Medicaid and subsidies provided through health insurance exchanges. Its staffers produce reports on policy issues and play a key role in certain estimates of proposed changes in health care programs, the CBO website states.

The report noted that the CBO works to "cultivate" a reputation as a "non-partisan scorekeeper, just balls and strikes." That reputation is so entrenched, the AAF said, that 1,358 different news media stories in the last year alone have appended the word "nonpartisan" to the beginning of the office’s name, reporting on the "nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office."

Congressional Budget Office Director Phillip Swagel speaks during a news briefing on the release of new economic reports at Ford House Office Building Feb. 15, 2023, in Washington, D.C.? (Getty Images)

"While the CBO has spun a narrative through the mainstream media that it’s a neutral scorekeeper, it’s one big gaslighting campaign to distract from the office’s fundamentally progressive roots." Jones said. "They know the next few months with reconciliation are crucial and will do everything they can to slam and stall the Trump administration’s policies."

CBO employees are barred from engaging in political activity if it would "identify, or appear to identify, CBO with a political campaign, candidate, officeholder, or cause," its website states. 

"The specific positions taken are irrelevant; rather, the potential harm to CBO’s reputation for objectivity comes from association with political activity or public advocacy," it adds. 

The agency doesn't hire employment candidates based on their political affiliation, it said. 

Research conducted by the group found that Health Analysis Director Chapin White is a Democratic donor, having given money to former Secretary of State John Kerry. White made a $300 donation to Kerry's failed presidential bid in 2004, according to Federal Election Commission data. 

White referred Fox News Digital to the CBO, which declined to comment.

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One analyst has donated to several Democratic elected officials, including former President Joe Biden and various members of Congress, according to the FEC. Many others are registered Democrats or have donated to Democratic pollical candidates, the think tank said. 

A Congressional Budget Office sign is in Washington, D.C., June 26, 2017. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Much of the data gathered by the AAF was obtained through public campaign finance reporting agencies or from voter registration offices, noting that many CBO employees live in Virginia, which doesn't have partisan registration, the nonprofit said. 

Virginia also restricts access to voter history records via the state’s Freedom of Information Act, making it challenging to ascertain whether voters cast ballots in Democratic or Republican primaries, it said. 

However, the AAF said it obtained Virginia voting history information from a trusted third-party source. 

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"There were four staff members for whom AAF was unable to secure voting history or registration information," it said. "AAF strongly suspects if the staffers listed as ‘Data on Definitive Partisan Bias Unavailable’ were asked whether they vote in Democrat or Republican primaries (or if they had voted for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump) very few, if any, will respond that they are Republicans."