Shocker: "Fiscal Cliff" Deal Includes $330 Billion In New Spending, Adds $4 Trillion To Deficits
About those “spending cuts” that supposedly balance the $620 billion in tax hikes in the “fiscal cliff” deal passed by the Senate last night. Turns out, the bill increases both national spending and the ten-year window of budget deficits significantly.
The “fiscal cliff” deal that was designed to save money actually includes $330.3 billion in new spending over the next decade, according to the official estimate the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday afternoon.
CBO said the bill contains about $25.1 billion in new cuts, but those are swamped by the new spending on extended unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless and other new refundable tax credits that President Obama fought for.
Of those cuts, only $2 billion are scheduled to take effect in 2013.
Obama was on track to take America to $22 trillion in national debt by the end of his term. Thanks to this deal, he’s on track to take us to about $26 trillion.
That would be more than $15 trillion in new debt under President Obama (the national debt was just over $10 trillion when Obama took office).
And remember, all this finagling about the “fiscal cliff” was about reaching a deal which made the nation’s finances healthier.