A report from the Congressional Budget Office determining the Build Back Better Act could add $3 trillion to the national debt could give "great pause" to moderate Democrats in the Senate and lead to "significant change" in the bill, Rep. Greg Murphy said on Newsmax Tuesday.
"[President Joe] Biden came on the television and said, this isn't going to cost anything to the American people; it's not going to do anything to the debt," the North Carolina Republican said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
According to the CBO's new analysis, the legislation, without adding sunsets that would end the programs funded in the measure, would increase the national deficit by $3 trillion between 2022 to 2031, reports CNN. Democrats, however, are arguing that many of the provisions in the legislation do have a sunset period and that the true cost isn't what the Republicans are saying it will be.
"There's going to be a significant change in that bill, even if it does even go anywhere in the Senate itself," Murphy said.
The congressman also discussed the political future of Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat and moderate who opposes the spending bill and could keep it from passing in the Senate.
"He's acting like a Republican, and that's what a lot of folks are [doing] these days. You're seeing so much of a swing," said Murphy. "I was in a small town in eastern North Carolina yesterday, and I had a few Democrats walk up to me and say, 'Look. I can't do this anymore. They're not my party anymore.' I think so much the progressives have taken hostage of the Democratic Party that so many moderate Democrats are just saying, that's not me anymore, and they have finally had enough."
But even if Manchin doesn't jump parties, he's acting like a "true independent," and his reluctance to vote on the bill "speaks volumes as to what the mood of this country is right now, especially with what happened in Virginia and New Jersey" said Murphy, referring to the governors' races in those states.
The lawmaker also spoke about the growing fentanyl problems going on in the nation and said much of the issue could be solved by reinstituting the policies set by former President Donald Trump.
"We know that while we're seizing record amounts, other record amounts are getting through and getting onto our streets," said Murphy. "The price of fentanyl was dropped 50% and now we'll see the overdoses for the first time in American history over 100,000 deaths in the 12-month period. We have to stop the flood and of the deaths in American streets."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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