Not So Fast Nancy! CBO Says Reconciliation Bill Score ‘Will Take Longer,’ Stalling Vote

Running up to and especially following the shellacking the Democrats took in the recent Virginia statewide elections, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have been feeling the heat trying to get something significant passed through Congress, taking the spotlight of the failing Biden agenda.

After months of internal fighting, the far-left members of the House acquiesced to the pressure too with most of them joining in passing the massive infrastructure bill on November 6th.

What did not also come up for a vote on 11/6 was the pork-filled, Marxist reconciliation bill.

Speaker Pelosi’s November 15th date to pass President Joe Biden’s social spending bill, known as Build Back Better, may have just hit a new snag.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a federal agency that provides budget and economic information to Congress, said on Tuesday that it cannot give a definitive date for when it will have a final cost estimate score of the bill.

CBO Director Phillip L. Swagel said Tuesday that the agency would release individual portions of the bill as they are completed but could not give a specific estimate for when the final report would be done.

“We anticipate releasing estimates for individual titles of the bill as we complete them, some of which will be released this week,” Swagel wrote. “Other estimates will take longer, particularly for provisions in some titles that interact with those in other titles. When we determine a release date for the cost estimate for the entire bill, we will provide advance notice.”

This delay in the CBO’s score of the actual costs of the bill will push back the timetable for when the House can hold a final vote. A group of moderate Democrats says getting a final CBO score is a prerequisite to their voting for the bill.

The House moderates and progressives agreed to a deal on Friday that allowed for a procedural vote on the spending bill as well as to pass a Senate-approved bipartisan infrastructure bill.

As part of the deal, five House moderates released a statement saying that they are committed to voting for the spending bill “as expeditiously as we receive fiscal information from the Congressional Budget Office – but in no event later than the week of November 15th.”

The lawmakers who issued the statement included: Reps. Ed Case (D-Hawaii), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) and Kurt Schrader (D-Ore).

CBO Director Swagel said they would give advance notice when it determines the date when it will release a cost estimate for the full bill.

Eric Thompson is a syndicated political writer and Christian podcaster.