Congressional Budget Office cost estimate on Biden bill expected to land Friday

The Congressional Budget Office said its total cost estimate of President Joe Biden’s signature spending bill might not be ready until Friday, as Bloomberg reports, which may push a planned House vote on the legislation to the weekend or later.

The CBO analysis may reveal that the legislation falls short of fully paying for itself because of differences with the White House over how much revenue could be generated by stricter enforcement of tax laws by the Internal Revenue Service. 

House moderates delayed a vote on the legislation earlier this month,  as Bloomberg notes, because they wanted a full picture of the bill’s fiscal impact. In a statement, five moderate Democrats pledged to vote for the legislation no later than this week if the CBO estimates were consistent with White House estimates.

The CBO score could fall short of that benchmark. The White House estimate of a $2 trillion bill offset by $2.15 trillion in revenue is based on generating $400 billion from increased tax audits. CBO director Phillip Swagel has said that the CBO, after talking to Treasury officials, sees a lower revenue amount.