Photo by NYPost illustration [retrieved 11-Nov-2021]
How do you get the cost of a bill down, but not really? By setting the duration to 5 years but spreading the cost over 10 years –
- Universal pre-K – 5 years
- Expanded childcare tax credit – 1 year
- Obamacare subsidies – 3 years
- Workforce training – 4 years
Does anyone think all the goodies in this bill will disappear after five years? After one year? Will the federal government fund universal pre-K, then, at the end of five years, tell folks it’s over?
As they end, Congress can renew each program for another five years, and pay for the renewed programs over 10 more years. This means we’ll continue to pay for programs that have long ago ceased to exist. The budget estimate does not take this sort of trick into account.
“Obviously, some of these programs are shorter than ideal. But the president believes, and I agree with him, that once we have these programs established, it becomes hard to take them away,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a member of Progressive Caucus leadership, told reporters on Tuesday.1
The original $3.5 trillion bill was whittled down to $1.75 trillion using such methods.
As the articles below indicate2, 3, the budget scoring should be done as if the programs will be permanent. Then, that would take the cost of this plan from $1.75 trillion to $4.1 trillion.
Another issue is one of priorities. If Social Security and Medicare are going bankrupt soon (Social Security in 2034, Medicare in 2026),4 how can the federal government increase their liabilities by billions of dollars?
These are pay-as-you-go programs that people paid into their entire working lives, only now to see a radical reduction in benefits due to government’s runaway spending. Makes no sense whatsoever. Maybe to a politician it does.
1 Democrats are setting up social policies for painful cliffs
2 Chamber of Commerce: Dems using ‘gimmicks’ to hide $1T in spending