White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claimed on Monday that an official score released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) showing that President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act could be significantly more expensive than he has led the American public to believe was a “fake score.”
The CBO score evaluated Biden’s agenda under the assumption that the programs in it would not expire and would eventually be made permanent.
The CBO said in a letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC):
The Congressional Budget Office and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation project that a version of the bill modified as you have specified would increase the deficit by $3.0 trillion over the 2022–2031 period (see Table 2). That amount includes three components: effects usually counted in CBO’s cost estimates (which are labeled conventional effects in the table), the effects of increased resources for tax enforcement, and effects on interest on the public debt. Under long-standing guidelines agreed to by the legislative and executive branches, estimates to be used for budget enforcement purposes include the first component but not the second and third.
“So the President says that the Build Back Better is not going to add a penny to the deficit. The CBO has this new score, where they assume that social programs are going to be made permanent and in that case, it would add almost $3 trillion,” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy said. “So does that mean that President Biden will commit that these programs are not going to be made permanent?”
“Well, first of all, what we’re talking about here is a fake CBO score,” Psaki claimed, “that is not based on the actual bill that anybody is voting on.”
“The President has conveyed very clearly multiple times publicly, that he would like programs, if they’re extended to be paid for,” Psaki claimed. “That remains his commitment. But it’s important to understand that when you, when anybody raises a question about this new CBO score, it is a fake score about a bill that doesn’t exist. And we should really focus on the actual bill everybody’s going to vote on and considering in Congress right now.”
WATCH:
DOOCY TIME: Biden says BBB won't "add a penny to the deficit. The CBO has this new score where they assume that social programs are going to be made permanent…It would add almost $3 trillion, so does that mean…[he] will commit that [they're] not going to be made permanent?" pic.twitter.com/Icmbg1xMB4
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 13, 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS: So the President says that the Build Back Better is not going to add a penny to the deficit. The CBO has this new score, where they assume that social programs are going to be made permanent. And in that case, it would add almost $3 trillion. So does that mean that President Biden will commit that these programs are not going to be made permanent?
JEN PSAKI, PRESS SECRETARY: Well, first of all, what we’re talking about here is a fake CBO score that is not based on the actual bill that anybody is voting on. This was a ask request by Senator Graham to score a bill that is not currently being debated. That is his prerogative to do but what our focus is on, is on the existing bill that will lower the deficit, that will also over an additional 10 years pay for the $2 trillion tax cuts that Republicans didn’t pay for. They’re welcome for that. So I would say, Peter, to your question, the President has conveyed very clearly multiple times publicly, that he would like programs, if they’re extended to be paid for. That remains his commitment. But it’s important to understand that when you, when anybody raises a question about this new CBO score, it is a fake score about a bill that doesn’t exist. And we should really focus on the actual bill everybody’s going to vote on and considering in Congress right now.