CBO says infrastructure bill will add over $250b to the deficit over the next decade
Andrew Trunsky, DCNF
The Congressional Budget Office Thursday estimated that the bipartisan infrastructure bill will add $256 billion to the federal deficit over the next decade.
While the CBO’s analysis found that direct spending would decrease by $110 billion and revenues would increase by $50 billion, it found that discretionary spending would increase by approximately $415 billion over the next 10 years. The report could risk some Republican support, and backs up several who have objected to the bill over its size.
“This infrastructure bill spends an enormous amount of money,” Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee said on the Senate floor Thursday. “This at a time when Americans are feeling the pinch of inflation, precisely because of the pace at which we have been spending money.”
"The Congressional Budget Office estimates that over the 2021-2031 period…the legislation would add $256 billion to projected deficits…"https://t.co/usm97750WL pic.twitter.com/GQIo928UMb
— Kyle Pomerleau (@kpomerleau) August 5, 2021
The bill, currently being debated in the Senate, would authorize $550 billion of new spending. If the CBO’s analysis unfolds as predicted, then just over half — $294 billion — would be offset by money already authorized by the government.
The report comes as the bill nears a critical Senate vote that could come as soon as Thursday. If it passes, then a vote on final passage could come soon as Saturday, followed by a debate on a federal budget that will merge into Democrats’ attempt to pass a reconciliation package totaling as much as $3.5 trillion.
