Congressman Gary Palmer and several colleagues have sent a letter to Congressional Budget Office Director Phillip Swagel. The group has requested cost analysis of the Democrats’ Build Back Better legislation.
In a press release, Palmer stated, “The nation will have to build back from the brink of bankruptcy, should this legislation ever become law. Although the Democrats are pretending to scale back on a number of the unwarranted programs in it, we have no idea what the true price tag is for these policies that would fundamentally undermine our Republic and move us one step closer to socialism.”
According to a recent article from the House Committee on the Budget Chairman John Yarmuth, the Build Back Better Act “aims to make an investment of $1.75 trillion in family care, health care, and combatting the climate crisis.” However, Palmer argues that the initiative will cost more than what is being stated.
“I have seen more than one or two budget gimmicks during my time in Congress, and this package is full of them,” Palmer continued. “For instance, the legislation partially funds programs and pretends they will come to an end, even though the clear intention is to make them permanent. This is why we have requested that the CBO Director conduct a true analysis, so that Congress and the American people have a real understanding of just how much this monstrosity will cost. Independent groups have consistently said this bill is not paid for and will increase the deficit. This analysis will expose all of the bill’s budget gimmicks and hopefully end this misleading effort to run our country over the fiscal cliff.”
The letter states, “H.R. 5376, as it is currently drafted, contains cherry-picked program expirations and phase-out periods that are meant to circumvent congressional scoring procedures. These provisions are disingenuously meant to hide the true costs of these policies and their burden on Americans today and for generations to come. It is of paramount importance that before Congress collectively acts on this legislation, it has an accurate understanding of what the effects of this legislation would be if its policies became permanent law.”
The letter was also signed by Reps. Vern Buchanan, Greg Steube, Pete Stauber, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Jack Bergman, David Rouzer, Tracey Mann, Mary E. Miller, Tedd Budd, Markwayne Mullin, Jody Hice, Eric Crawford, David McKinley, and Andy Biggs.
