CNN’s John Berman called out Labor Secretary Marty Walsh for claiming President Joe Biden’s roughly $2 trillion Build Back Better Act would reduce the deficit.
Walsh said during an appearance on CNN’s “New Day” Friday, “President Biden’s been very clear from the beginning of his presidency, he’s going to lift up American families, lift up American children, lift up the people that need it the most. And that’s what this bill does.”
“And it also helps reduce the deficit, which is a beautiful thing,” he added.
Berman interjected, “Well, the CBO doesn’t say it helps reduce the deficit. The CBO says…”
“No, it does,” Walsh said.
However, the co-host noted that the CBO “says it comes billions short. The White House says that the CBO’s not accounting for revenue that might be generated by IRS enforcement, correct?”
Walsh argued that additional investments for Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforcement will generate around $112 billion in revenue per year.
“Just to be clear, the CBO, which President Biden has called the gold standard before, the CBO’s projection as of this morning is that the bill comes up short,” Berman responded.
Watch the video below:
CNN’s John Berman calls out Marty Walsh for pushing the false WH talking point that BBB helps reduce the deficit.
— America Rising (@AmericaRising) November 19, 2021
“Just to be clear, the CBO, which President Biden has called the gold standard before — the CBO’s projection as of this morning is that the bill comes up short.” pic.twitter.com/lWMSxM0xoZ
Biden has repeatedly insisted that his spending plan would be fully paid for by a series of provisions designed to raise revenue.
In October, he claimed, “It will not add to the deficit at all, it will actually reduce the deficit.”
However, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the bill would add $367 billion to the deficit over 10 years.
As The Wall Street Journal notes, “For technical reasons, the CBO’s bottom line doesn’t include $207 billion in revenue that the scorekeeper estimates would result from pouring roughly $80 billion into tax-enforcement efforts at the Internal Revenue Service. Adding that revenue to the CBO’s other estimates would make the bill’s 10-year deficit about $160 billion.”
The Biden administration believes increased IRS enforcement would bring in $480 billion in revenue and says the bill would actually decrease the deficit.
