CBO: Build Back Better Act Adds $750 Billion to Deficit over Five Years

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found Thursday that the Democrats’ mammoth legislation would cost $750 billion over five years.

The CBO found that the Build Back Better Act would add $367 billion to the deficit; the Democrats’ official price tag is $1.75 trillion. President Joe Biden and other Democrats have claimed the bill would cost zero dollars.

The nonpartisan organization also found that the bill would add roughly $160 billion to the deficit over ten years, and almost $750 billion over five years.

The Build Back Better Act contains arbitrary policy sunsets and expirations to make the cost of the legislation appear lower and have the legislation comply with the rules for budgetary reconciliation.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that the legislation would cost $4.91 trillion if many of the policies and programs with sunsets did not expire.

This includes permanent extensions of:

Extending the increase in the Child Tax Credit (CTC)
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
universal pre-kfngarten and child care subsidies
Affordable Care Act increased subsidies

The Committee noted:

The Build Back Better Act relies on a substantial amount of short-term policies and arbitrary sunsets to reduce its cost, raising the possibility of deficit-financed extensions in future years. A more robust and fiscally responsible package would not rely on these gimmicks to achieve deficit neutrality.

Democrats may face possible complications from the CBO estimate, as many moderate Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), have worried about how the bill might impact the deficit and inflation.

President Joe Biden hopes to pass his legislative agenda through the Build Back Better Act and the so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill, otherwise known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The CBO found the the bipartisan bill would add $256 billion to the deficit.

This means that the Build Back Better infrastructure agenda would add $623 billion to the deficit, while Americans continue to face soaring inflation.

Club Growth President David McIntosh released a statement Thursday, noting that swing districts broke their promise not to raise the deficit:

The CBO has spoken: Biden’s so-called “Build Back Better” Bill will add $367 billion to the deficit over 10 years. Representatives Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05), Ed Case (HI-01), Stephanie Murphy (FL-07), Kurt Schrader (OR-05), and Kathleen Rice (NY-04) promised their constituents that they would not raise the deficit. If they break their word and vote for this bill, they’re betraying their constituents. In September, Biden said the reconciliation bill would cost, ‘zero,’ and Biden has called the CBO the ‘gold standard.’ But with his embrace of the radical left it should come to no surprise that he’s walking away from any semblance of good judgement or fiscal responsibility. Now he is asking the Democrats in the House to support a bill that we clearly can’t afford while his other stimulus bills cause massive inflation.

McIntosh continued, “While American families are facing failing schools and skyrocketing prices, Democrats are going on a socialist spending spree, and they should expect their constituents to hold them accountable for their support of these reckless policies.”

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

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