WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, or JCT, analysis on the $1.75 trillion safety net bill shows the legislation is “solidly paid for.”
The JCT has estimated the Build Back Better bill in the House will raise $1.47 trillion from new taxes, according to a new analysis released Thursday.
The JCT analysis is an “objective view that is solidly paid for and that doesn’t even take into account what we’re very proud of is an agreement on prescription drugs, which generates resources as well as enforcement,” said Pelosi at her weekly press conference.
Democratic lawmakers have been trying to come to a deal on President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda for months now. A reservation for many lawmakers who said they wanted to see the Congressional Budget Office and the JCT provide an official cost estimate of the legislation before agreeing.
Party leaders are frantically seeking to ink a deal so they can pass Biden’s social spending legislation and a separate infrastructure package through the House this week.
“We’re going to pass both bills, but in order to do so, we have to have votes for both bills,” said Pelosi, who was reticent to say when a vote would occur.
Earlier this week, five centrist House Democrats — Ed Case, of Hawaii, Jared Golden, of Maine, Josh Gottheimer, of New Jersey, Stephanie Murphy, of Florida, and Kurt Schrader of Oregon — wrote a letter telling Pelosi they wanted an official cost estimate of the legislation “before any floor consideration” of the Build Back Better proposal.
With the JCT analysis released, the U.S. Treasury Department now estimates the House’s safety net bill will generate $2 trillion in savings, according to a release.
“The bottom line is that the Build Back Better Act under consideration in the House of Representatives will be fully paid for and reduce the deficit,” said the Treasury Dept. in a statement.
Another outstanding issue lawmakers are dealing with is immigration, specifically work permits, which “we’re finding our common ground” on, said Pelosi.
An agreement that did come together earlier in the week was on lowering prescription drug costs, particularly for seniors, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Tuesday.
Even Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., a key holdout, endorsed the agreement. Schumer had said he hoped to begin debate on the bill, a crucial piece of Biden’s agenda, on Nov. 15.
Sahil Kapur and Rebecca Shabad contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
