Here’s What Americans Will Get From The Climate And Tax Bill Democrats Just Passed
The Energy Secretary will give up to $6 billion to 'underserved communities'
Analysis of Biden's Build Back Better bill says the plan could cost more than twice what White House claims
An analysis of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better framework finds that the multi-trillion dollar social spending plan could cost more than twice what the White House claims it will over the next decade.
An estimate from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that the House Build Back Better Act as currently written will cost roughly $2.4 trillion with about $2.2 trillion in offsets. But the legislation relies on budget gimmicks, sunset provisions, and expirations of certain tax credits and programs in order to keep the topline cost artificially low.
"If the plan's temporary policies were made permanent, we find the cost would increase by as much as $2.5 trillion," the CRFB analysis stated. "As a result, the gross cost of the bill would more than double from $2.4 trillion to $4.9 trillion."
In late October, the White House released the framework for the Build Back Better Act, a plan to provide free child care, expand Medicare and Medicaid, enact new climate change policies, extend the Earned Income Tax Credit, and more. Biden's administration claims the plan will cost $1.85 trillion and will "reduce the deficit" by increasing taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
In reality, the plan as it stands now is projected to add $200 billion to the deficit over 10 years. But that figure relies on the Child Tax Credit increase and Earned Income Tax Credit expansion from Biden's coronavirus stimulus package ending after one year, as well as subsidies for universal pre-K and childcare ending after six years, the healthcare program expansions lasting only through 2025, and other measures expiring in the near future.
"To be sure, lawmakers may choose not to extend some or all of these provisions. However, if they do, they would need to more than double current offsets in order for the bill and the extensions to be paid for. The alternative would be a substantial increase in the debt," CRFB stated.
While it's technically possible that Congress could allow some or all of these tax credits and subsidy programs to end, doing so would be politically unpopular and would be met with vocal protestations from lawmakers that favor an expansive social welfare safety net.
If each piece of Biden's Build Back Better plan is made permanent without additional spending offsets, it will add nearly $3 trillion to the deficit through 2031.
"The Build Back Better Act relies on a substantial amount of short-term policies and arbitrary sunsets to reduce its cost, raising the possibility of deficit-financed extensions in future years," CRFB concluded. "A more robust and fiscally responsible package would not rely on these gimmicks to achieve deficit neutrality."
Pelosi stops mid-speech after Republican laughs at claim 'Build Back Better' bill will reduce the debt
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) snapped back at a member of Congress who laughed at her claim during her floor speech that President Joe Biden's multitrillion-dollar spending proposal would reduce the debt.
On Friday, Pelosi spoke in the House of Representatives, extolling the claimed benefits of the Democrats' $1.75 trillion spending proposal for Biden's "Build Back Better" agenda.
"It will be one of the most significant legislative undertakings that any of us have ever been part of," Pelosi said.
The bill, which is still under negotiation in the U.S. Senate, will expand the social safety net and enact several climate policies supported by progressives. Originally intended to be a $3.5 trillion bill that included free college tuition, paid family leave, expanding Medicare and Medicaid, and much more, Democrats were forced to compromise because moderate lawmakers like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) are concerned about rising economic inflation.
Despite cuts to the bill, Pelosi asserted Friday that it will be bigger and more impactful than the Affordable Care Act, the transformative health care law enacted under President Barack Obama.
"So if you're talking about how we want to have immediate and enduring difference for the workers and families, creating jobs, securing middle class tax cuts, lowering costs for families, and making the wealthiest pay their fair share, all the while contributing to reducing the national debt," Pelosi said.
She then stopped speaking as someone else in the House apparently let out a guffaw.
"Did I hear a laugh over there?" she asked.
"Did I hear a laugh from those who added $2 trillion in tax cuts for the richest people in America, 83% of it going to the top 1%?" she fired back.
"This is paid for and more than paid for," she claimed.
In reality, the funding for this $1.75 trillion bill is a point of contention in the negotiations. Some Democrats want to add a massive tax cut for the wealthy into the bill by changing the cap on state and local tax deductions. These so-called SALT tax deductions were capped at $10,000 by the 2017 tax reform law passed under President Donald Trump.
House Democrats put forward a proposal last week to increase the SALT cap to $72,500 through 2031, which would lower government revenues by an estimated $50 billion per year through 2025.
Ironically, Pelosi claimed that the "Build Back Better" bill would not increase the deficit at the same time Democrats are arguing for a tax cut for the rich that would not be paid for. And she called out a Republican for apparently laughing at that contradiction.
Isn't that funny?
(H/T: Mediaite)
Sen. Joe Manchin floats 15% 'patriotic' tax on billionaires
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Wednesday endorsed the idea of a "patriotic tax" on wealthy Americans to offset the cost of a multitrillion spending bill that would fund President Joe Biden's economic and climate agenda.
Manchin, who is central to negotiations over the size and content of the bill, told reporters that he opposes a plan to levy a so-called billionaires tax on the unrealized capital gains of the wealthiest Americans. In its place, he said a 15% minimum tax on billionaires would "be nothing we should be scorned about" and said "it doesn't harm anybody."
"That's called a patriotic tax," Manchin said.
Democrats are scrambling to wrap up negotiations on what was originally a $3.5 trillion spending bill that would've provided free two-year community college tuition, paid parental leave, universal pre-K childcare, elderly home care, Medicare and Medicaid expansion, and a host of policies related to Biden's climate agenda.
But opposition to that top line spending number from Manchin and fellow moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) has forced Biden and congressional Democrats to compromise down to about $2 trillion, ditching proposals like free college and other programs progressives support.
With only a 50-50 majority, Senate Democrats need every member of their conference to be on the same page regarding the bill for it to pass. The proposed tax increases to pay for it have emerged as another sticking point in the negotiations. Sinema has opposed increasing corporate, personal, or capital gains taxes, which has left progressives arguing that a new wealth tax on billionaires is necessary to fund the bill.
On Wednesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) put forward a proposal to tax individuals with net worths over $1 billion or those who reported making at least $100 million in the consecutive years 2019, 2020, and 2021. According to Axios, the tax is estimated to raise $200 to $250 billion toward paying for Biden's nearly $2 trillion plan.
The new tax would be on unrealized capital gains, in other words the value of tradable assets billionaires hold before those assets are sold and before they are counted as income.
"The Billionaires Income Tax would ensure billionaires pay tax every year, just like working Americans," Wyden said on Wednesday. "No working person in America thinks it's right that they pay their taxes and billionaires don't."
Of course, contrary to Wyden's assertion, billionaires pay taxes.
Manchin criticized Wyden's idea Wednesday, and his vote (and Sinema's) will determine whether Democrats can pass BIden's spending bill or not.
"I don't like it. I don't like the connotation that we're targeting different people," Manchin said of Wyden's proposal. "There are people that, basically, they've contributed to society, that create a lot of jobs and invest a lot of money and give a lot of philanthropic pursuits."
"But it's time that we all pull together and grow together. I believe everyone's going to pay. I believe that we will end up where everyone must participate," the West Virginia lawmaker added.
Manchin was optimistic that Democrats would create a framework for a compromise sometime this week that would assuage the concerns of progressives, who are holding up a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill in the House until the Senate reaches an agreement on Biden's multitrillion bill. He said the president will be in contact with House progressives to smooth over their concerns.
"We're basically trying to agree to a framework, and the president's been very clear," Manchin told reporters. "He'll go over to the House, and he'll basically explain to the House that [he has] a framework, but there's still an awful lot of work to be done. And we're going to have something happen, and you have to trust. The president's getting everything he has to make this happen. He's trying to meet everybody halfway."
(h/t: The Washington Examiner)
Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com
freebeacon.com