The true cost of Biden's agenda

THE TRUE COST OF BIDEN'S AGENDA. President Joe Biden and Capitol Hill Democrats are racing to pass their massive social spending bill, known as Build Back Better, before Christmas. Maybe they'll succeed, and maybe they won't — a lot depends on whether Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin hops on board. But no one should have any illusions about what BBB, the final piece in the Democrats' COVID-year spending orgy, costs. After a lot of deceptive claims from Democrats, we finally have an answer.

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.