CBO says bipartisan plan would increase budget deficits

The bipartisan Senate infrastructure bill would add $ 256 billion to budget deficits over a decade, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Thursday.

The non-partisan agency’s report did not take into account the potential increases in income created by economic growth. As it stands, the CBO has said the bill, which does not include tax increases, will generate around $ 50 billion in revenue.

Senators who crafted the plan had said it would be paid for in full from a variety of sources, including reallocated coronavirus relief funds, unused UI aid and economic activity generated by the investments.

In a statement responding to the CBO’s estimate, senior infrastructure negotiators Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sen. Krysten Sinema, D-Arizona, said the spending of the bill “is being offset by a combination of new income and savings, some of which is reflected in the formal CBO score and some of which is reflected in other savings and additional income identified in the estimates, as the CBO is limited in what it can include in its formal score, they said they would work to get the bill passed by Congress and enacted.

The Senate was considering amendments to the bill on Thursday, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., aims to pass it before the start of next week. Releasing the CBO report was one of the key steps remaining before the Senate voted on the proposal.

The legislation includes around $ 550 billion in new spending on transport, broadband and utilities.

Republicans have renewed concerns about federal spending and deficits as the Democratic Congress and the White House scramble to invest trillions of dollars in infrastructure and social programs. Several GOP senators whose support may be needed to pass the bill have said its effect on long-term deficits will play a role in how they decide to vote.

It is not clear whether the CBO’s score would be enough to cause Republicans who support the plan to reconsider their support. Senators who voted to move the bill forward, including Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Said they wanted to see CBO’s cost estimate for the plan.

President Joe Biden proposed a more than $ 2 trillion infrastructure plan earlier this year, calling for an increase in the corporate tax rate to 28% to pay it off.

Republicans criticized his plan, saying they would not support a bill reversing their 2017 tax cuts. The law cut the corporate rate to 21% from 35%.

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