“My Build Back (More) Better program is already paid for. It won’t cost anything. Zero.”
Regular followers of American politics recognize the tone and obvious truth-stretching fabrications of senile president Joe Biden, who’s been out and about lately speaking to anyone who would listen about his gigantic welfare boondoggle proposals disguised as legislation that he insists would improve ordinary Americans’ lives and tamp down inflation that’s growing out-of-control. Touted and comprised as an “all-of-the-above” approach to Democrat socialists’ career wish-lists that could be jammed through the senate using the filibuster avoiding reconciliation process, the bill was significantly scaled back to roughly half its original size in recent months due largely to the objections of party Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. It seems like ages ago now, but a determined leftist contingent of Democrat senators swore they would not support anything less than the initial $3.5 trillion starting point, but there hasn’t been a peep heard from the hard core group ever since. Recall that “The Bern” Sanders griped that $3.5 trillion wasn’t enough and he wouldn’t back down until all his demands were met. Ditto for Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren, the faux native American from Massachusetts. Sanders must’ve changed his mind because the only name mentioned lately who’s blocking the doorway to a before-Christmas passage of the bill is Joe Manchin. Manchin’s been hounded by leftist agitators for months because he’s dared to voice concerns about adding another big chunk of debt to the nation’s balance sheet, which is already dripping blood red in ink. With inflation raging, his approval ratings dropping faster than a Chinese Olympic diver and his entire agenda in doubt, Biden received another dose of bad news regarding Build Back Better this week -- its actual costs are likely ten times as much as the Congressional Budget Office’s previous estimate of less than 400 billion added to the national debt over ten years. How could it be so? Byron York of the Washington Examiner explained:
“Biden has claimed, falsely, that the bill is ‘fully paid for.’ But last month, the Congressional Budget Office released an analysis saying BBB would add $367 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years. So much for ‘fully paid for.’ But it's much, much worse than that. According to a new assessment from the CBO, the cost of the bill under real-world conditions — the way Democrats hope to administer it — will add not $367 billion to the deficit but $3 trillion. That's more than eight times the deficit spending Democrats are citing...
“Here's how it works. In order to keep the costs of the bill down, Democrats have inserted a lot of ‘sunsets’ in it — that is, arbitrary dates on which provisions would end. For example, the centerpiece of Build Back Better is the child tax credit, a program under which the government sends monthly checks to families with children, with no requirement that recipients work, or look for work, or anything. It is a new dole, and it has long been a goal of some Democratic policymakers. Democrats want to make it a permanent feature of American life...”
Sounds similar to Democrat presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s Universal Basic Income idea, doesn’t it? The liberal party has apparently run out of ways to disguise their welfare giveaway schemes, so why not just send checks to everyone who claims a kid on their tax return (and probably illegal aliens, too, though I can’t say for sure) and therefore get them addicted to Uncle Sam’s largesse for life?
As if the benefits conundrum isn’t bad enough, now single mothers will have even greater incentive to produce babies so as to increase the size of their monthly “credit” checks. And don’t bring the abortion argument into this. Pregnant would-be moms have all the resources they’d need to carry a child to term, simply by contacting any number of pro-life charities who value the life of the child more than as a political bargaining chip.
There’s no reason to send monthly stipends to everyone, especially those with high incomes. But to means test the tax credit rings too strongly of welfare reform for Democrats. We went through this in the nineties when the GOP Congress passed a series of measures to roll back welfare, only to have them vetoed by Bill Clinton who said they were too harsh (despite promising to “end welfare as we know it”). It didn’t make sense then and it’s even more puzzling now.
It’s curious how Democrats have taken on the previously distasteful (to them) cause of tax credits -- but only if they further their crooked agenda and make it seem like they’re “helping” lower-income Americans scrape by through sending checks (or direct deposits, more likely). Remember when George W. Bush fought for a tax rebate for taxpayers when the government was still running (or close to) a surplus?
Democrats, at the time, expressed concerns that the rebate -- which I generally supported but thought Bush’s tax rate cuts were a bigger victory -- would “add to the deficit.” We’re not hearing much about the debt in 2021. Senile Joe and his henchmen would rather tell tall tales about “paying for itself” and “not costing a dime.”
York additionally wrote, “You can see what is going on. Using their bare majority in the House and their not-really-a-majority in the Senate, Democrats hope to pass a massive spending bill that is actually far more massive than it looks. The estimated $367 billion addition to the deficit — which is bad enough — would actually be a $3 trillion addition to the deficit. Whenever you see Democrats estimate the cost of Build Back Better, multiply it by eight or 10, and you'll be getting close.”
Ouch. The truth does hurt. But the sunsetting provisions were necessary to get the initial price of the package down low enough where Manchin and Sinema would listen to the leaders’ pleas to pass it. Manchin announced months ago that he wouldn’t go above $1.5 trillion, which sent Majority Leader “Chucky” Schumer’s forces back to the drawing board to disguise the topline number.
So they came up with the budget “sunsetting” gimmick.
Democrats aren’t stupid. They know darn well that once a government freebee is passed that it’ll be almost impossible to take it back. Future congresses won’t have any stronger will to rein in the budget than the current one. It’s the elections! Take candy away from a baby and he or she will scream!
York was correct -- if the one-year COVID child tax credit is extended or made permanent, Yang’s Universal Basic Income concept becomes almost cemented into the statute books. What congressman from either party would vote to abolish a child tax credit, even if it’s a deficit ballooning welfare scenario? “Moderates” have no spine.
Ronald Reagan used to say, “The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a Government Program”. The Gipper understood, as does the establishment political class from both parties.
You can just see it now, can’t you? The annual end of the year rush to pass continuing resolutions to keep the government running, or formulating additional legislation to lift the debt ceiling -- again -- will contain provisions to perpetuate the aspects of “Build Back Better” lumped in with all the other government provisions without any thought to killing them. Sooner or later, the congressmen and senators forget about them and the sickness is made permanent.
Debt projections don’t mean much when there’s a spending regime that’s hoping to codify the status quo. Politicians won’t suddenly quit demanding new federal programs, either, so the BBB drivers will take a backseat to the liberal big government flavor of the moment. That’s one of the reasons that men like Bernie Sanders fought so hard to get Medicare For All inserted into Joe Biden’s campaign platform (it didn’t work).
Think Democrats won’t gloat over the tax issue? The other day, Jen Psaki said the administration’s BBB plan will “pay” for Republican tax cuts passed during former President Donald Trump’s tenure. Democrats have seemingly taken on tax cuts as a political winner. We all know they don’t give a hoot about spending and debt, so when they can have it both ways, why compromise?
The last thing the American economy needs is the injection of another couple trillion dollars when inflation is rampaging and our currency becomes less valuable by the day. So do our savings accounts. Statistics indicate that wages are rising but they pale in comparison to the skyrocketing cost of essentials such as fuel, food and shelter. The poor suffer the most.
We’ll pay for “Build Back (More) Better” alright. And it won’t be worth it.
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