The Neverending Story: Build Back Better Legislative Edition
Meanwhile…the “Build Back Better” budget reconciliation package is awaiting a CBO score and a vote, which is coming…sometime.
From Punchbowl News:
Even as the Gosar drama unfolded Tuesday, Pelosi and House Democrats remain on track for a big vote later this week on the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act. No time has been set for the vote yet. We’re still expecting it to happen Friday, although the Democratic leadership is holding out hope for Thursday.
Democrats are still waiting for scoring from CBO on several major committee titles of the legislation, including the sections covering the Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees. Moderate Democrats are especially interested in seeing if the CBO analysis is in line with preliminary White House spending and revenue estimates.
Yet the moderates seem pretty steady at this point, and are giving no sign of backing off the timetable they agreed to for the BBB vote. They also don’t seem rattled that some of the projections made by the White House may not be matched by CBO. For instance, the Biden administration is anticipating that CBO won’t score potential revenue gains by increased IRS enforcement anywhere close to what the White House projects. Yet moderates apparently are ok with that.
“We anticipated that there’s apparently a legitimate difference of opinion,” Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), a key moderate, said on Tuesday. “I talked to the CBO guy [Phillip Swagel] last week and even he admitted there’s just different interpretations of how the consumer is going to react. Again, what is a monopoly on the truth, if you will? I think it’s ok, that would not dissuade me.”
Man’s got a point.
And let’s be honest – a “bad” CBO score never stopped Republicans from doing what they wanted so I’m not sure why it should stop Democrats, especially when those democrats are trying to pass legislation to help actual Americans.Report
Looks like the House will vote today, with the CBO Score now out:
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57627
That lack of inclusion of potential revenue is important, if even half the fund Treasury expects to generate come in this will be a budgetary nothing burger:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/18/build-back-better-act-vote-cbo-releases-score-of-biden-plan.htmlReport