The Congressional Budget Office on Friday released a revised score for President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, the reconciliation package loaded with social spending measures.
The new analysis, which comes at the request of Sen. Lindsey Graham and Congressman Jason Smith, looks at the trust cost of the legislation if sunset clauses are removed from major provisions.
According to the CBO’s estimates, the legislation would “increase the deficit by $3 trillion over 2022 to 2031.”
That amount includes three components: effects usually counted in CBO’s cost estimates, the effects of increased resources for tax enforcement, and effects on interest on the public debt. Under long-standing guidelines agreed to by the legislative and executive branches, estimates to be used for budget enforcement purposes include the first component but not the second and third.
In comparison, including the same three components, the version of H.R. 5376 that was passed by the House of Representatives would increase the deficit by $0.2 trillion over the 2022–2031 period, CBO projects. The largest difference between the two estimates stems from an increase in the child tax credit that ends after 2022 in the House-passed version of the bill. (CBO)
While the current bill doesn’t include extensions, Democrats have made clear they want to see many of the programs included permanent.
Democrats say they want these programs to be permanent. When their bill is scored accordingly over the full decade window/stripping away the BS gimmicks they embedded to game the score, CBO finds the true cost is $3 trillion in new debt — an insanely far cry from “zero dollars.” https://t.co/LyN64IOAp9
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) December 10, 2021
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back, arguing that Democrats would offset any additional costs if BBB were made permanent.
Schumer called the CBO’s latest analysis a “fake” score and one which “is nothing more than a partisan attempt to mislead the public."
Meanwhile, President Biden is still falsely claiming that the agenda will cost nothing.
The fact of the matter is my Build Back Better Agenda costs $0 — and it won’t raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000 a year. We’re going to pay for it by ensuring those at the top and big corporations pay their fair share.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 4, 2021
Update: Graham said Friday he hopes the new score will help Sen. Joe Manchin in his decision-making on the bill.
"Joe Manchin has been wanting to know without gimmicks what would the bill cost. We now know it more than doubles. ... I’ve done what Sen. Manchin said somebody should do," Graham said, according to The Hill.
"What I think will happen is that Joe will take these numbers and he will start making decisions about what comes next, and my hope is that Sen. Manchin will say, 'Stop, shelve Build Back Better until we find better answers to where inflation is headed,'" added the South Carolina Republican.
Graham spoke to the West Virginia Democrat earlier Friday, who was reportedly "stunned" by the new estimate.
"I talked to him this morning. He was stunned. I think he felt vindicated and that his concerns were legitimate," Graham said.