President Joe Biden’s climate and social spending bill would cost nearly $5 trillion if several temporary provisions are made permanent, a nonpartisan budget think tank estimates.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a group that advocates for lower deficits, said Monday the current House iteration of the Build Back Better Act relies “on a number of arbitrary sunsets and expirations” to lower its sticker price. Republicans and outside groups have criticized those features of the bill as budget gimmickry.
“If the plan’s temporary policies were made permanent, we find the cost would increase by as much as $2.5 trillion,” the public policy group said. “As a result, the gross cost of the bill would more than double from $2.4 trillion to $4.9 trillion.”
