Political | Process

The numbers were requested by Republicans, who have criticized the Democratic plan as being riddled with budgetary gimmicks to make it appear to cost less.

Tweet

• The legislation has several spending items that sunset early that, if made permanent as Democrats intend them to be, would balloon the cost of the bill.

• The report from the budget office released Friday is a blow to President Joe Biden’s efforts to push the bill through Congress, as it will add to fears that the spending measure would push the government further into debt and stoke inflation.

• Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, in particular, whose vote Biden is counting on, has expressed such worries.

• The initial scoring from the CBO only accounted for the legislation as written, sunsets included. The CBO first said the legislation would increase federal deficits by $367 billion over the next 10 years.

• On Friday, the Joint Committee on Taxation also released a long-term projection for if the expanded child tax credit is made permanent. It found that if the program continued, it would cost nearly $1.6 trillion over the next decade.

• Democrats recently expanded the child tax credit by increasing the money that families received from up to $2,000 per child to $3,600 for children under 6 years old and $3,000 for older children.

• The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which advocates for lower deficits, had previously projected that the final cost of the Democratic legislation over a decade with all temporary provisions made permanent would be $4.9 trillion — much higher than Democrats have marketed.

SOURCE: WASHINGTONEXAMINER