Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said yesterday that the Senate’s healthcare bill must cost less than $1 trillion in order for it to win bipartisan support, even though Grassley himself is “under immense pressure from Republican colleagues not to deal at all.”

“It has to be there or under, I think, in order to get a bipartisan agreement,” Grassley told Bloomberg News. “I think it has to be there or under to be explainable to the people.”

Steve Benen notes that selecting an abritrary number to be the cost of legislation is “an absurd way to try to govern.” Which is true.

But if it’s all about numbers for Grassley, why is he even talking about the worthless Baucus healthcare bill?

The healthcare bill written by the Senate HELP committee is projected to cost $611 billion over the next decade AND includes a public option.

Grassley and Republicans won’t support a public plan, but the Baucus plan will not win bipartisan support anyway.

We could pick the right plan and pay less, or go the wrong route and pay more for it now and later.