Newsroom /

Budget Buster: Social Welfare Bill Will Cost More Than Zero Dollars, No One Surprised.

Democrats Get a Bad CBO Report, Build Back Better Adds $367B to National Debt.


Photo for: Budget Buster: Social Welfare Bill Will Cost More Than Zero Dollars, No One Surprised.

Key Points

  • The Democrats predicted Build Back Better would cost “zero dollars.”
  • It will actually add $367 billion dollars to the national debt.
  • The Congressional Budget Office says many ways that Dems expect to pay for it are “unsound.”

Back in September, President Biden told reporters, “We talk about price tags. [Build Back Better] is zero price tag on the debt. We’re paying — we’re going to pay for everything we spend.”

Biden followed that statement up with a tweet the following day that reiterated, “My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki echoed the “zero dollars” talking point during a press briefing saying, “”What we’re talking about is how much the top-line investments are, which are all paid for, so therefore it costs zero. No matter what the size or the cost of the top-line investments are, we have ways to pay for it.”

Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got in on the fun, throwing common sense and common core to the wind, telling reporters, “It’s not about a dollar amount. The dollar amount, as the president said, is zero. This bill will be paid for.”

Turns out, Biden’s trillion dollar social welfare bill will cost just a bit more than zero. It will actually add $367 billion to the national debt, bursting Democrats’ bubble that they could fund the boondoggle with tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans and a more powerful IRS; one that would have greater insight into American bank accounts.

“CBO estimates that enacting this legislation would result in a net increase in the deficit totaling $367 billion over the 2022-2031 period, not counting any additional revenue that may be generated by additional funding for tax enforcement,” CBO Director Phillip Swagel said.

So not zero dollars, then.

“The CBO also found that several White House proposals for generating revenue to pay for the programs are unsound,” the Washington Examiner reports.

Unsound? How so?

“Specifically, Mr. Biden’s plan to hire 87,000 additional IRS agents to crack down on tax scofflaws is estimated to raise only $207 billion over the next decade. The figure is roughly half of the $400 billion that the White House claimed it would raise,” the Examiner says.

“The CBO officially confirmed what Republicans already knew,” says Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA). “The [Build Back Better] agenda is not fully paid for. … Democrats are trying to sell America on a socialist scam.”

The Biden administration responded by claiming the Congressional Budget Office has no idea what they’re talking about saying, “There’s wide agreement CBO doesn’t have experience analyzing revenue amounts gained from cracking down on wealthy tax cheats who are taking advantage of honest taxpayers,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said.

The CBO has been around for nearly 50 years – they have the experience, Andy.