By Ben Ritz
As the U.S. Senate postpones its vote on the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) into next year, it’s becoming increasingly clear that lawmakers’ attempt to enact almost every major program proposed by President Biden on a temporary basis — rather than prioritize a few key programs or find enough revenue to sustainably finance all of his proposed programs permanently — threatens both the bill’s prospects for passage and the success of its core initiatives should the bill become law. Democrats must rethink and revise this approach to address the most urgent national needs and secure a successful legacy for President Joe Biden.
The problem became clear last week in part thanks to a new estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which suggested that the policies in the House-passed version of the BBBA would cost over $4.7 trillion between now and 2031 if none of them are allowed to expire before then. CBO’s analysis has given pause to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has consistently said he would only commit to supporting a bill that increases federal spending by no more than $1.5 trillion over the next decade and fully covers offsets the additional cost. Manchin holds the crucial 50th vote needed to pass any bill through the Senate without Republican support, so the bill cannot move forward until his concerns are addressed.
