Toomey says Manchin-Schumer deal is ‘gimmick’ with ‘very dubious’ projections

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on Sunday cast doubt on Democrats’ claims that a newly announced climate, health care and tax package would reduce the deficit and inflation, instead calling its cost projections a “gimmick.”

During an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with guest moderator John Dickerson, Toomey said the projected revenues from tax changes will be accrued over 10 years, while the projected expenses assume the package’s health care subsidy extension will ultimately expire.

“That’s an obvious political payoff,” Toomey said. 

“The last time they had to do this, they said it would only be for two years,” he said. “It’s about to expire, and they can’t have it expire before an election, so they’re extending it but only for three years. They have no intention of ever ending the Obamacare subsidies over a 10-year window. That wipes out the purported deficit reduction.”

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday announced a deal on the reconciliation package, which is a slimmed down version of the multi-trillion Build Back Better plan Democrats had hoped to pass last year.

The bill’s other provisions include $369 billion in energy-focused climate investment programs over the next 10 years.

To pay for the new programs, Democrats say the bill would raise $739 billion in new revenue, including $313 billion through a 15-percent corporate minimum tax and $124 billion from strong Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforcement of tax law.

Toomey on Sunday pushed back on those revenue estimates.

“They’re also counting huge amounts of additional tax revenue from giving more tax money to the IRS, which the [Congressional Budget Office] does not agree with,” he said.

“They’re also not taking into account how much our economy will slow down from this big corporate tax increase that will mostly hurt manufacturing and domestic investment,” Toomey added. “These numbers are very, very dubious.”