Twitter torches Biden's attempt to twist CBO estimate of his massive spending bill



President Joe Biden reacted to the bad news from the Congressional Budget Office on his massive spending bill by twisting the numbers, and many on social media ripped into the missive.

"My Build Back Better Act is going to reduce the deficit by more than $100 billion over ten years. It's going to lower costs, create jobs, and rebuild our economy. Let's get this done," Biden tweeted from his official social media account.

However, the link in the tweet to the CBO estimate didn't quite match with the Biden estimate.

"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," the report read.

Biden's estimate appeared to reject the CBO finding that increased tax revenue through greater IRS enforcement would only amount to about $207 billion, not the $400 billion the White House estimated.

White House Deputy Communications Director Kate Berner explained on Twitter how they came to that conclusion.

"How did we reach this? CBO estimates that BBB will add $367.1B to the deficit. That doesn't include revenue collected from tax enforcement. Treasury estimates $479.6 revenue from tax enforcement. So… $112.5B in deficit reduction," she tweeted.

The shady accounting was quickly rejected by many on social media.

"Gutsy move to link to the very CBO document that refutes his exact claim. Math is hard," responded House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

"He lied about evacuating Americans from Afghanistan. Now President Biden is lying about the cost of his reckless spending plan. His word is no good," replied Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)

"This is Biden plugging in his admin's own IRS enforcement numbers to the CBO's analysis of the bill. (The linked doc does NOT say BBB would reduce the deficit)," tweeted journalist Jim Tankersley.

"I'm trying to decide if Biden doesn't realize that the CBO says that's BS — or if he's somehow trying to debate them," said one detractor.

"Did he... click the link?" asked one critic.

Moderate Democrats said that they would only decide on their vote for Biden's spending plan if the results of the CBO scoring matched up with the estimates of the White House.

Here's more about the CBO rating:

Moderate Dems insist on CBO score of Biden's reconciliation billwww.youtube.com

Biden claimed his spending plan would be 'fully paid for,' but the CBO says it will add $367 billion to the deficit



The Congressional Budgeting Office released its estimate of the cost of President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" plan and it is far from being "fully paid for," as he promised.

The CBO report said Biden's plan would add $367 billion to the deficit over 10 years from 2021 until 2031.

Biden had promised many times that his bill would be "fully paid for," despite that claim being ridiculed in the media.

"My plans are fiscally responsible. They are fully paid for. They don't add a single penny to the deficit," tweeted Biden at the end of October.

The estimate does not include things like increased tax revenue from increased spending and the IRS's intentions to help the agency improve tax enforcement. If that estimate is added, then the cost of the bill reduces to about $165 billion.

The White House has already argued that the estimate of tax revenue from the CBO is far too conservative, and says instead that their estimate finds that they will raise about $400 billion from the effort.

The CBO rating is pivotal for the legislation to pass since Democratic moderate holdouts said that they wanted to see the estimate before deciding on whether to support the bill or not.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has said that he is worried more spending would lead to greater inflation, which is already stifling the economy and hurting consumers' purchasing power.

"If the CBO is not as expected, I think negotiations will continue but definitely make this a longer process," said a spokesperson for Manchin's office on Nov. 8.

The bill had originally come in at the hefty price tag of $3.5 trillion, but objections from moderates whittled it down to $1.75 billion.

Some in the media are already downplaying the findings from the CBO.

"This whole process is an exercise in smoke and mirrors," said CNN's Erin Burnett. "The CBO can only score and give these estimates based on the bill given to them. No one actually knows the price."

Others are accusing Biden of lying.

"CBO confirms that Biden LIED. His Socialist Spending Scam is NOT paid for. It will add BILLIONS of dollars to our deficit over the next decade," tweeted the official account of the House Republicans.

Here's more about the CBO estimate:

The CBO score is outwww.youtube.com