The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis of the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) that assumed 18 policies were made permanent, rather than “sunset” within the 10-year budget estimating window. In a new insight, Director of Fiscal Policy Gordon Gray explains the BBBA’s fiscal effects and how its authors’ use of sunsetting masks the true cost, as noted by the CBO. 

Key points:  

• The CBO estimated that the BBBA would add over $367 billion to federal deficits over the next decade.  
• While the estimate makes clear that the Act in its current form is not, contrary to proponents’ claims, paid for, it still does not take into account the use of sunsets hide even greater costs of the BBBA’s policies if they were made permanent.   
• According to an analysis by the CBO, if the weak sunset policies in the BBBA were extended, as their sponsors fully intend, the BBBA would add an additional $3 trillion to the deficit.   

 Read the analysis