The CBO Takes a Sledgehammer to Joe Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ Agenda – Opinion

For many months now, the White House and Democrats at large have repeated the obvious falsehood that Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda will cost “zero dollars.” In fact, the Treasury Department, led by Janet Yellen, has actually asserted that the bill lowers the deficit over the long term.

CBO’s initial estimates revealed that the foolishness was in fact what it seemed. Contrary to what the administration claimed, the BBB bill would in fact increase the deficit by $160 billion. The CBO was required to project future tax revenue based on tax enforcement provisions in order to get even that figure. Anyone who has ever heard a politician talk about a coming tax revenue windfall from cleaning up “waste and fraud” knows how big of a scam that is. This never ever happens.

The bad news didn’t stop with those first CBO estimates, though. Today’s inflation report showed a 6.8% rate of growth, and Joe Manchin, who had previously seemed open to a $1.5 trillion compromise bill, has seemingly gotten cold feet. But it was this afternoon that the sledgehammer good and fully came crashing down on the weak knees of Biden’s agenda.

CBO published another estimate which indicated that It is true cost of the BBB bill after all the “temporary” programs in it are extended. That’s been the Democrat game. Like Obamacare, Democrats wanted BBB to have more funding for years than it did programs. But that’s not how things work in the real world. So what’s the real number? You may want to grab a towel because it’s going to make your eyes water.

Two weeks ago, President Biden spoke out about possible BBB extension extensions. “Here’s what these critics don’t tell you. They’re not telling you that I’ve committed to paying for every single program that extended, if any are, in future legislation, whether that’s for a day or a decade.”

— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) December 10, 2021

In fact, $3 trillion would be added to the national deficit over the next ten years by the BBB Bill. As to Biden’s promise to pay for any future extensions, how is he going to do that? He’s blowing smoke up the collective backside of America and even the CBO, which bent over backward to fudge the numbers surrounding Obamacare, isn’t letting him get away with it anymore.

Here’s the thing everyone needs to know about government programs: They never go away once they are instituted. In the future, there will not be a universal pre-K program and healthcare subsidies that are no longer available. Thus, it is far more honest to score the BBB bill based on what it’s actually going to cost in the real world, not just what it’s going to cost on paper via a bunch of cheap gimmicks.

I think Joe Manchin realizes that, and that’s why his opposition has appeared to harden over the last week. This bill is going be a financial disaster. It will cause more inflation for the middle-class and provide little to no value to the American consumer. Biden’s handlers may be able to pull off a miracle and get the bill passed. But as it stands now, smart money expects it to crash and burn.