Biden’s Infrastructure Price Tag Just Jumped – Democrat Plan Was Supposed To Cost $3.4T, Now It Will Reportedly Cost $5.4T
There are several reasons why many Republicans stand against the Democrat infrastructure bill. For instance, they claim it includes plenty of items that have nothing to do with infrastructure.
But they also say it’s far too expensive. The initial cost was somewhere around $3.5 trillion, and some GOP leaders claim it’d be impossible to pay for that without a sharp rise in taxes.
It might be even worse than they think, though.
While Democrats continue to push the idea of “human infrastructure” to defend their bill, they apparently haven’t provided America with the true total if all items are included.
This is where the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget steps in — and what they found is startling.
Previously, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he intends to move forward with their partisan bill, and that it would cost a whopping $3.5 trillion.
That’s a significant sum, but the Committee just discovered Democrat lawmakers might be using a few tricks to hide the real cost of the legislation. And if they’re right, the “hidden” sum is staggering.
From Breitbart:
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that the Democrat “infrastructure” bill would cost $5.4 trillion, which is much more expensive than initially projected.
Instead, the nonpartisan organization projects that the bill would cost $5.4 trillion over a decade and that Democrat lawmakers intend to use ‘arbitrary policy sunsets’ or ‘budget gimmicks’ to hide the true cost of the bill.
By using these “budget gimmicks” and “arbitrary policy sunsets,” it seems Democrats were able to keep the actual long-term cost of the bill lower.
But overall, the Committee claims it’ll cost America far more. In fact, there’s almost a $3 trillion difference between the originally reported number and the statistic the Committee released.
And of course, the bill still contains a number of items that most Republicans say are not related to infrastructure in any way:
- $1.1 trillion in expanded Child Tax Credits
- $330 billion in clean energy and vehicle tax incentives
- $285 billion in funding for community colleges, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and Pell Grants
- $225 billion for paid family and medical leave
- $190 billion for affordable housing programs
- $165 billion extension of ACA benefits from the Democrats’ coronavirus relief bill, the American Rescue Plan
- $120 billion to change the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deduction, which primarily helps wealthy, Democrat states
That’s just to name a few.
The Committee wrote that Democrats were being “irresponsible” by using the aforementioned tricks to “obscure the true cost of the legislation.” And again, if accurate, the new number should come to light.
Thankfully, they’re doing exactly that.
Senior Vice President of Policy for the Committee, Marc Goldwein, put out the following tweet:
🚨 BREAKING🚨 – the new $3.5 trillion budget agreement appears to have enough policies to cost $5 – $5.5 trillion over a decade.
— Marc Goldwein – GET VAXXED (@MarcGoldwein) July 19, 2021
Lawmakers plan to hide the package;s true cost by having some programs and tax breaks expire early.
From @BudgetHawks – https://t.co/fCChJ4QMNC
Taxpayers do deserve to know the actual cost of this bill. And they also deserve to know exactly where their money is going.
If they don’t agree with either, there’s going to be serious backlash over this legislation. There already has been on Capitol Hill, and this new cost revelation is bound to make the situation even more contentious.
At this point, it seems like the current infrastructure bill is going to be a very tough sell.
Key Takeaways:
- Democrats say the cost of their infrastructure bill is about $3.5T.
- But the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has reportedly found the total is closer to $5.4T.
- The Committee claims Democrats are using “budget gimmicks” to hide the real cost of the legislation.
Source: Breitbart