This letter provides an update about the estimated budgetary effects of H.R. 5376, the Build Back Better Act. The version of H.R. 5376 that was passed by the House of Representatives on November 19 would increase the deficit by $365 billion over the 2022–2031 period, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. On November 18, CBO reported that a previous version of the bill would increase the deficit by $367 billion over that period.
In addition, CBO estimates that the funding for tax enforcement activities provided by both versions of the bill would increase revenues by $207 billion through 2031. Under long-standing guidelines agreed to by the legislative and executive branches, that change in revenues is not included in CBO’s estimate of the budgetary effects of the bill.
The estimated cost of the House-passed bill is $2 billion less than the estimated cost of the earlier version because an appropriation for administrative expenses for the Social Security Administration was in section 130001 of the previous version of the bill and not in the version of the bill that was passed.
