Washington, (Samajweekly) The US bipartisan infrastructure bill would add $256 billion to budget deficits over 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said.
The CBO in an analysis on Thursday estimated that the bill would increase discretionary spending by $415 billion over the 2021-2031 period while increasing revenues by $50 billion and decreasing direct spending by $110 billion, reports Xinhua news agency.
“On net, the legislation would add $256 billion to projected deficits over that period,” the CBO said in the analysis.
The White House and a bipartisan group of senators have reached an agreement on a roughly $1.2-trillion infrastructure bill, which includes $550 billio in new spending on infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, passenger rails, drinking water and waste water systems.
The latest analysis from the CBO shows that just more than half of the new infrastructure spending would be offset by pay-fors.
The release of the CBO analysis was one of the key steps remaining before the Senate votes on the bill.
It is unclear whether the analysis would prompt any Republicans who back the bill to reconsider their support, according to CNBC.
However, the bill’s two lead negotiators, Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Republican senator Rob Portman of Ohio, said that the CBO analysis did not account for all the ways the bill offset costs.
“The new spending under the bill is offset through a combination of new revenue and savings, some of which is reflected in the formal CBO score and some of which is reflected in other savings and additional revenue identified in estimates, as CBO is limited in what it can include in its formal score,” the senators said in a joint statement issued on Thursday.
“The American people strongly support this bipartisan legislation and we look forward to working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle and President (Joe) Biden to get it passed through Congress and signed into law.”
