The White House shot down claims Tuesday that the administration is preparing centrist Democrats to deal with an unfavorable Congressional Budget Office score for the Build Back Better budget reconciliation agenda.
The New York Times reported Monday night that White House officials have “begun bracing lawmakers for a disappointing estimate from the budget office, which is likely to find that the cost of the overall package will not be fully paid for with new tax revenue over the coming decade.”
Deputy press secretary Andrew Bates called that reporting flawed during a gaggle onboard President Joe Biden’s Tuesday Air Force One flight to New Hampshire.
“There has been wide agreements on the part of everyone involved — moderates, liberals, etc. — that CBO does not have experience analyzing revenue amounts gained from cracking down on wealthy tax cheats, who are taking advantage of every honest taxpayer,” he stated. “Last night, reporters directly asked key Democratic House members whose views run the gamut, including moderates, liberals, folks in between. They universally said this was not an issue at all.”
Bates also claimed that “there’s a huge body of work from economic experts, including Republican former treasury secretaries, IRS commissioners who have served under presidents of both parties, as well as Larry Summers, with whom we have sometimes had important differences, affirming that if anything, our estimates lowball how much revenue can be brought in by cracking down on rich tax cheats.”
“Also, CBO’s fiscal data so far lines up with our estimates that we released to all of you for costs, or they even come in below our estimates,” he continued. “What’s more, Moody’s has verified this is going to be paid for, and this will reduce the deficit.”
There are concerns among Democrats that centrists will balk if the CBO score shows spending to be higher or revenues lower than the administration has projected. The bipartisan infrastructure bill, originally paired with the reconciliation bill, was signed into law on Monday.
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You can listen to Tuesday’s entire gaggle below.
