On Monday’s “CNN Newsroom,” House Assistant Whip Brendan Boyle (D-PA) stated that he hopes the benefits in the Build Back Better reconciliation bill are extended beyond their duration as outlined in the original bill and he believes if that happens, “additional revenue measures” will be devised to pay for extending the programs.
Co-host Jim Sciutto asked, “[T]he scoring of the CBO on the plan as it stands puts it at a smaller figure. But if these plans and measures and benefits do not sunset as called for in this original bill, it puts it — the actual cost at 3 trillion over the next nine years. Now, you and I both know very well that once folks have benefits, Congress does not like to take those benefits away. And in fact, you’d have to repeal them in a year or two. Isn’t this the more realistic estimate of the bill’s actual cost?”
Boyle responded, “No, I don’t think so, and here’s why: Because if that is the case, which, candidly, as someone who supports these, I hope would be the case, then you would have to have the expectation that five, seven, ten years down the line depending on which provision we’re talking about, additional revenue measures would be come up — they would come up with at that time. So, I think that the original CBO figures, which show that this bill actually reduces the deficit, in other words, we raise a little bit more in revenue than we’re spending in this. I think that’s the more accurate measure.”
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