Biden Spending Plan is not Zero Cost: No Way to Pay for a $6 Trillion or Even $3.5 Trillion Program
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) on Friday sounded a different tune than President Joe Biden on the cost of his so-called Build Back Better agenda.
Biden and his administration have maintained that the $3.5 trillion spending package would come with “zero cost” to the American people, but Clyburn told MSNBC’s “Craig Melvin Reports” that “there’s no way to pay” for a $6 trillion program or even a $3.5 trillion program.
The South Carolina congressman said Democrats are “committed” to paying for what they deem necessary and emphasized they are “close to finding that sweet spot.” “[P]eople were ruminating for a long time. I don’t think that anyone ever thought that after doing the rescue plan of over a trillion dollars, that we would come back with a $6 trillion program,” Clyburn explained. “The question is, how do you pay for that? Because we’re committed, Democrats are committed to paying for what we do. We saw the Republicans do a nearly $2 trillion tax cut and pass it onto our children and grandchildren to pay for it sometime in the future. That’s not our philosophy. Our philosophy is, let’s do what we need to do, but let’s pay for it. And so, there’s no way to pay for a $6 trillion program.” He continued, “And you may recall, I questioned as to whether or not $3.5 trillion could be paid for. In fact, I said at the time that I thought that somewhere between $1.5 and $3.5, we’ll be able to find a sweet spot. And that, it seems to be what’s taking place now. We are close to finding the sweet spot. And it will be between those two numbers.” Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent.
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