The real cost of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda could be “more than twice what Pelosi says,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
In a Penn Wharton Budget Model released on Thursday, analysts found that Democrats’ spending bill will ultimately cost more than $1.75 trillion over 10 years and will not “reduce the federal deficit.” Instead, the spending bill in its current form could cost $1.87 trillion and raise $1.56 trillion in revenue over 10 years, which is more spending and less in taxes than White House projections.
“So the entitlement bill doesn’t come close to paying for itself, and that’s before the House restored a program for four weeks of paid family leave. Penn Wharton estimates that it would reduce economic growth by 0.1% by 2050 and add 2% to the federal debt,” according to the report.
Penn Wharton further warned that “if all of the provisions of the bill (except green energy tax cuts) are made permanent” spending would be up to $3.98 trillion, and tax revenue would remain around $1.55 million over 10 years, the report states.
“That’s more than twice what the White House is trying to get Americans to believe. Penn Wharton says this level of spending would increase the federal debt 25.2% and reduce GDP 2.8% compared with current law by 2050,” according to the publication.
The report continues:
This matters because Democrats openly admit that their strategy is to pass new entitlements like national child care, disguise their cost by pretending to phase the programs out inside the 10-year budget window, but assume they will become permanent as they always do. This means the real cost of the Sanders-Biden-Pelosi budget is $4 trillion, and it will put the U.S. on a path to European entropy.
Democrats have been unable to unite on the spending bill long enough to pass it, however. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) once again was forced to delay a vote on the bill on Friday “amid resistance from moderates.”