CBO to release Build Back Better score by Friday

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Monday that it expects to release a full cost estimate of House Democrats’ social spending and climate package by the end of the day Friday.

The announcement comes as House Democrats are aiming to vote on the Build Back Better spending bill this week. A group of moderates has said they want more information about the bill’s cost from the CBO prior to voting.

Five House moderates — Reps. Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) and Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) — struck a deal with progressives earlier this month that allowed the House to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill that President Biden is signing Monday. As part of the agreement, the moderates said they committed to voting for the social spending package once they receive information from the CBO, but no later than this week.

The White House has said the bill is fully paid for. The moderates said in their statement earlier this month that if the CBO’s estimates are inconsistent with the White House estimates, they “remain committed to working to resolve any discrepancies in order to pass the Build Back Better legislation.”

The CBO had released six estimates of portions of the bill last week, and released another two estimates of bill sections Monday. The office said it expects to release estimates of the remaining bill sections by Friday, including the key portions of the bill from the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

“If we can get it done before then of course we will. But certainly by the end of Friday we’ll have the entire estimate,” CBO Director Phillip Swagel said at an event hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center and Yahoo! Finance on Monday afternoon.

Pressed on whether the bill will pay for itself, as the White House has touted, Swagel said he “can’t yet” confirm that is the case, pending ongoing scoring.

—Aris Folley contributed.

Updated at 4:10 p.m.