White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda will carry a cost, saying the White House is asking top earners in America to “pay more” to cover the costs of it.
In a question from a reporter, Psaki was asked whether the Biden Administration would “acknowledge the broader truth that it does cost somebody? Right?”
“There’s a clear difference to what we’re talking about as it relates to taxpayer funds or funding that would lead to our debt, right, which I know a lot of Republicans are supposedly concerned about” Psaki said. “Fifty of the top companies last year in 2020 paid not a dollar in taxes. A lot of high-income individuals pay lower tax rates than nurses and teachers. No one thinks that’s fair. Yes, we’re asking them to pay more. Yes, it will cost them more.”
Biden faced criticism from analysts and lawmakers over the weekend after he shared a tweet claiming that his Build Back Better plan “costs zero dollars.”
“My Build Back Better Agenda costs zero dollars,” Biden’s account tweeted. “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.”
Republicans have ripped Build Back Better, which includes a $3.5 trillion spending package, as a massive bill that “ultimately provides benefits to wealthy liberal elites at the expense of working-class families.”
Moderate Democrats, like Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., have also raised concerns about the package, the latter noting the bill lacks cost analysis by the Congressional Budget Office.
