NYT reports that CBO is 'likely to find' that Joe Biden's totally paid-for investment in America's future won't be totally paid for after all

Sarah D | 1:29 PM on November 16, 2021

BREAKING NEWS: Building Back Better may not actually be as free and affordable and free as we’ve all been led to believe.

At least according to the Congressional Budget Office:

"The WH has begun bracing lawmakers for a disappointing estimate from the CBO, which is likely to find that the cost of the BBB will not be fully paid for with new tax revenue over the coming decade." @arappeport https://t.co/JoDEx6DZ8g

— Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) November 15, 2021

Oh.

Can’t be true, I was reliably told it cost zero dollars.

— Jay C. (@iamthejayc) November 15, 2021

https://twitter.com/EddieZipperer/status/1460670174835752966

President Biden’s pledge to fully pay for his $1.85 trillion social policy and climate spending package depends in large part on having a beefed-up Internal Revenue Service crack down on tax evaders, which the White House says will raise hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue.

But the director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Monday that the I.R.S. proposal would yield far less than what the White House was counting on to help pay for its bill — about $120 billion over a decade versus the $400 billion that the administration is counting on.

…

A disappointing assessment that shows the bill adding to the deficit could prove problematic. A group of moderate Democrats in the House have said they want to see an assessment from the budget office before moving forward with the legislation. And some lawmakers have expressed concerns about whether the bill is fiscally responsible, with Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a key swing vote, expressing concern that the package could add to the national debt and stoke further inflation.

Make no mistake: it will most definitely prove problematic. Sen. Manchin is right to be concerned about the national debt and inflation.