TEHRAN - Contrary to Joe Biden’s promise that his climate change and social policy package plan (dubbed “Build Back Better Act”) would pay for itself, a nonpartisan agency has cast serious doubt on the U.S. President’s legislation proposal.

The Congressional Budget Office says the plan will actually increase the federal deficit by $367 billion dollars over the next ten years. The new report is expected to influence how lawmakers will vote for the bill on Capitol Hill. The current budget deficit stands at an estimated $2.77 trillion for the year 2021. 

The Congressional Budget Office was founded by Congress and is in charge of investigating financial legislation introduced in the House or Representatives. The report has put the bill which will supposedly deal with social services, work to mitigate the climate crisis, increase access to health care and deliver aid to families and children under scrutiny. 

In the report the Congressional Budget Office said "CBO estimates that enacting this legislation would result in a net increase in the deficit totaling $367 billion over the 2022-2031 period, not counting any additional revenue that may be generated by additional funding for tax enforcement.” 

The White House claims the plan, which will see $1.75 trillion in spending, will be fully covered by offsets. It spent a lot of time making the case that the bill will be fully paid for, despite the Congressional Budget Office analysis showing a shortfall.

Biden administration officials and the treasury department claim these measures will include better implementation by the Internal Revenue Service that will generate $400 billion in new tax revenue. 

But the Congressional Budget Office report disputes this; it estimates only $127 billion can potentially be generated from Biden’s plan and that’s a net revenue after other expenses have been counted.

Congressional Budget Office estimates that enacting this legislation would result in a net increase in the deficit totaling $367 billion.It remains to be seen how many lawmakers will be affected by the report’s findings. Republicans fiercely oppose the plan describing it as an irresponsible one that will contribute to the rising inflation that Americans are already facing. 

The spending bill is being debated in the House after a vote was passed as expected on Thursday evening along party lines. Moving forward with the bill is facing delays as the debate drags on in the House. 

Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican Party leader, called Democratic lawmakers "out of touch" with the needs and wishes of ordinary Americans. He described the Build Back Better Act the “single most reckless and irresponsible spending bill in our nation’s history. Never in American history has so much been spent at one time,” before adding "Never in American history will so many taxes be raised and so much borrowing be needed to pay for all this reckless spending."

One of Biden’s previous proposals that passed both chambers in Congress was rebuilding infrastructure. This has been one of the most common tactics of every administration that enter office. They mostly tend to start with Infrastructure as it appears lucrative with potential employment opportunities while a new road here and there with pot holes fixed elsewhere make neighborhoods look nicer for a while. But the question that arises is who will pick up the costs. 

The spending bill is more than just infrastructure; and the rise of the federal deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars must be recuperated one way or the other. 

The question again is who pays up the tax for the bill? The White House claims that increasing taxes on the rich and closing loopholes on tax havens will help finance the bill. But how many times have Americans heard this argument before? 

If anything, all research indicates that tax havens and those evading tax is growing among wealthy politicians and people of power or influence, while no legislation has been passed in the U.S. to prevent those individuals from paying tax within their tax category according to the law. 

As lawmaker Jared Golden alluded to during the Build Back Better Act voting process, the tax will benefit wealthy Americans. Concerns have been raised in Biden’s plan about a controversial provision on both local and state tax deductions. Critics say the tax cut will primarily benefit high earners. The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy think tank says three-quarters of the benefits of a recent tax change to Biden’s bill will go to the wealthiest 5 percent in the country. 

But whenever a bipartisan agency’s investigation is at odds with a President’s pledge to fully pay for a massive $1.85 trillion legislation; that’s when the alarm bells start to ring. The bigger danger is that poorer Americans, the working and middle classes will have to pay for the costs of a plan that may or may not boost Biden’s popularity in the short term. 

And it comes during a period when times are already tough with inflation rising, times are tough for Americans trying to put food on the table. 

As Senator Joe Manchin noted "everyone's concerned, they should be concerned about inflation because it's real. Inflation is real. So, we got to make sure we get through this the best we can, and put no more burden on them."

The U.S. economy is certainly in decline, the country will not prosper and nor will it supposedly be the flag bearer of democracy as it claims to be when so few have so much and so many have so little. The mainstream media in the U.S. chooses to ignore the facts, so do the lawmakers. The issues of income and wealth inequality is a big moral, economic and political crisis that America must face up to and deal with. 

Half of Americans are surviving paycheck to paycheck, half a million of the very poorest Americans are homeless while millions remain deeply concerned about home evictions. 92 million Americans do not have any insurance and others are underinsured. Meanwhile, American families all across the nation from state to state are worried about how they are going to feed their children. 

This comes as Americans at the top have never enjoyed a more luxurious life. 1% of Americans living at the top now own more wealth than the bottom 92% while the 50 wealthiest Americans own more wealth than the entire bottom half of the country’s society; that equates to some 165 million people. As for employment, tens of millions have lost their jobs and incomes during the pandemic, while over the past year alone 650 billionaires have seen their wealth increase by $1.3 trillion. 

Meanwhile, an entire generation of students carry an incredible level of student debt and face a harsh reality that their future standard of living will be lower than their parents. To make matters worse, most low-income Americans are now facing a life expectancy that is about 15 years lower in comparison with wealthy Americans. In essence, the future does not look bright as poverty in America has turned into something of a death sentence

However, the democrats are in urgent need of some positive media coverage with their President registering a record low popularity rating in almost all polls among voters, but the massive spending bill will come at a cost for the average American in the decade to come. Despite the bill being at odds with Biden’s pledge to fully repay for the $1.85 trillion, that is unlikely to stop House Democrats from approving the legislation.

Will the legislation even provide what the White House had pledged? That’s anyone guess. Many critics have expressed skepticism. 

Analysts say what is more than likely is the poor and not the rich are the ones who will bear the burden of Biden’s “Build Back Worse Act.”