The Biden administration has been repeatedly claiming that Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill actually costs nothing.
“My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars,” Biden tweeted last month. “Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes, and tax evasion for big corporations and the wealthy, we can make a once-in-a-generation investment in working America. And it adds zero dollars to the national debt.”
My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars.
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 26, 2021
Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes, and tax evasion for big corporations and the wealthy, we can make a once-in-a-generation investment in working America.
And it adds zero dollars to the national debt.
Since then, White House officials have doubled down on the claim, with the media largely giving them a pass. Fox News’s Chris Wallace did, however, have a chance to correct Biden senior advisor Cedric Richmond when he repeated the claim during a recent interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
“Mr. Richmond, I've got to -- I've got to stop you there. It doesn't cost zero,” Wallace said. “Whether it's $3.5 trillion or $2 trillion, it -- or $1.5 trillion, whatever, it costs that amount of money. Now, you can pay for it either by borrowing it or you can pay for it by raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy, but it doesn't cost zero.”
During a Fox News Radio interview with Brian Kilmeade, Wallace said he’s been in Washington for more than 40 years and this claim “may be the dumbest spin line I’ve ever heard” during that time.
“That a $3 trillion bill costs nothing because you’re going to pay for it. That's — I don't know. When you bought your last car, and you paid for it, did you think, ‘well, I got that for free, that costs nothing.’ No, you paid for it. So, you could say, and I don’t think actually this will even be true, but that it will add nothing to the debt, but it certainly … doesn't cost nothing, it's not free. It costs whatever it costs."