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WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 27: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks ahead of receiving a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in the South Court Auditorium in the White House September 27, 2021 in Washington, DC. Last week President Biden announced that Americans 65 and older and frontline workers who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine over six months ago would be eligible for booster shots.
United States President Joe Biden finds himself in the crosshairs once again after claiming in a Saturday tweet that his "Build Back Better" agenda cost the federal government zero dollars or, essentially, free.
The Democratic president's Twitter account uploaded a post that read, "My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars. Instead of wasting money on tax breaks, loopholes, and tax evasion for big corporations and the wealthy, we can make a once-in-a-generation investment in working America and it adds zero dollars to the national debt."
Biden's Build Back Better Agenda
But President Biden's plan is set to be funded by a massive $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill that includes money to be used for the climate, family leave, education, and expansion of the social security net. The legislation has become a major point of discussion among lawmakers in Congress as Democrats continue to disagree on details of the bill, including its price tag.
Over the weekend, many Republican officials took to Twitter to criticize Biden's statements and outright call his claim a "lie." Rep. Claudia Tenney shared the Democratic president's tweet while captioning it, saying that it was simple math for Biden to realize that $3.5 trillion was not equal to zero, the New York Post reported.
Republicans have long criticized Biden's Build Back Better plan and the massive $3.5 trillion reconciliation package that funds it as a bill that "ultimately provides benefits to wealthy liberal elites at the expense of working-class families." Many moderate Democrats have also expressed their disagreement with the reconciliation package after Rep. Stephanie Murphy said it lacks cost analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.
In a statement, Murphy said that the federal government would not be able to afford everything they wanted and noted that unless something changed, they had no choice but to vote no. Even those who have expressed their support for the agenda have shared their disagreement with the president's latest tweet.
Ian Bremmer, a political scientist, posted on Twitter that he strongly supported the new infrastructure plan but noted that it was not costless. Bioengineer Rory Cooper also shared Biden's tweet while saying that no one believed a massive plan such as the Build Back Better agenda was free, Fox News reported.
Opposing the Massive Proposal
Many businesses have also expressed their opposition to the Build Back Better plan as it includes the Internal Revenue Service tracking all back transactions over $600. This requires banks to provide the IRS with details for all accounts with more money than the threshold.
More than 40 trade associations, with some representing entire industries or economic sectors, have pushed back against the proposal. They signed a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, raising concerns about the effects of the agenda.
The letter includes support from many banking coalitions and urges Congress to reject that specific requirement. They said that part of the plan violated customer privacy and would result in an incredibly expensive and elaborate reporting requirement for banks. It also noted that the agenda did not detail how the IRS would store, protect, and use the information, Yahoo News reported.
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