CNN anchor Kate Bolduan came prepared on Friday when Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) tried to reject the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s analysis that the House GOP’s Israel aid bill would add $26.8 billion to the national budget deficit.
While the South Carolina lawmaker expressed anger that he has “so little confidence in the Congressional Budget Office” because they have an “agenda to support whatever point of view” the Biden administration advances, Bolduan noted that Norman had previously touted the office’s findings when he was It suits him politically.
The Israel aid bill, which narrowly passed the House on Tuesday, began the new leadership era of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Los Angeles) with a partisan battle, almost certainly delaying emergency military aid to Israel.
The bill provides $14.3 billion in aid to Israel, but “offsets” this cost by cutting $14.3 billion in funds allocated to the Internal Revenue Service.
This contradicts the supposed goal of House Republicans of not increasing the national debt Central Bank of Oman found The legislation would increase the deficit by $26.8 billion over the next ten years. The IRS, citing a reduced ability to audit wealthy companies and enforce collections, claimed The cuts will cost the government $90 billion over the next decade.
These trade-offs infuriated Democrats, leaving the DOA bill in the Senate and the White House.
appearing on CNN News Central On Friday, Norman responded to criticism from Democrats that the GOP is “imposing conditions on aid to Israel,” claiming that “Democrats say they would rather have IRS agents support Israel.”
However, Bolduan noted that while House Republicans insist that the IRS cuts are a “pay-for,” the Congressional Budget Office says the bill would add more to the deficit than simply sending aid unconditionally to Israel.
“I have very little confidence in the CBO,” Norman grumbled. “They have an agenda to support whatever point of view the current administration has, so I don’t agree with that.”
He went on to complain that there is “funding earmarked for 80,000 IRS agents” and that it is “infuriating” for Democrats to not get “paid for” when it comes to issuing any additional aid.
Influenced by Norman’s declaration of no confidence in the central bank in Congress and his description of it as a pro-Biden entity, Bolduan then proposed His previous support To analyze the office’s budget when it seemed to serve his own political agenda.
“I have seen you, though, commend the CBO in supporting some of your efforts in the past,” she said. “I was looking this morning – your office put up a file Press release from February “This year you count on the CBO to make your point, calling it a ‘stunning report’ from the CBO that reaffirms what I’ve been saying about out-of-control spending and the national debt for a long time.”
“So what changed?” Bolduan bluntly asked the conservative congressman.
For his part, Norman tried to spin his obvious hypocrisy by quickly focusing on complaints about “worrying” and the White House’s supposed unwillingness to propose spending cuts.
“Well, the debt ceiling numbers — the CBO can’t manipulate them,” he said. “Now, they’re not wrong 100% of the time, nor are they right 100% of the time. But what I’m saying now is, let’s take the CBO numbers that if they increase the deficit. Where can they have compensation in a plan? Biden administration?
Norman continued: “We have a $1.7 trillion deficit this year, and under what circumstances can they come to compensate themselves? They can’t cut anything. What about the military’s vigilance agenda? These are dollars that could be spent on aid to Israel, and to be “Honest with you, on aid to Ukraine. But they won’t do it, and they’re intent on bankrupting the country, and we’re tired of that here in the House, especially under Mike Johnson.”
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