Beck falsely claimed "[o]nly 3 percent" of stimulus plan would be “spent in the next 12 months”

Written by Greg Lewis

Published

Fox News' Glenn Beck falsely claimed that "[o]nly 3 percent" of the Democratic economic stimulus plan would be “spent in the next 12 months.” Beck's figures were based on a partial Congressional Budget Office cost estimate that excluded faster-moving provisions in the bill. According to the CBO's full cost estimate of the bill, 11.2 percent of the $816 billion bill would be spent in the first seven-and-a-half months after the bill is enacted, and, when including the bill's tax cut provisions, $169 billion -- or 20.7 percent of the bill's total cost -- would take effect in the first seven-and-a-half months.

During the January 27 broadcast of his Fox News program, Glenn Beck falsely asserted, as he also did in his January 26 FoxNews.com column, that "[o]nly 3 percent" of the Democratic economic stimulus plan would be “spent in the next 12 months.” Beck's figures were based on a partial Congressional Budget Office (CBO) cost estimate that excluded faster-moving provisions in the bill. According to the CBO's full cost estimate of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which was released January 26, $92 billion in outlays -- or 11.2 percent of the $816 billion stimulus bill -- would be spent in the first seven-and-a-half months after the bill is enacted. When also accounting for the stimulus bill's tax cut provisions, the full CBO cost estimate found that $169 billion -- or 20.7 percent of the bill's total cost -- would take effect in the first seven-and-a-half months.

In his column, Beck wrote: “According to the CBO, only $26 billion -- just over 3 percent -- will be spent this year. Another $110 billion -- or 13 percent -- will be spent next year.” The partial CBO cost estimate, as posted on the Huffington Post website, estimated that the bill would include $26.156 billion in outlays for fiscal year 2009 and $110.167 billion in outlays for fiscal year 2010. But that cost estimate included only approximately $358 billion of the stimulus bill's $604 billion in outlays and none of the bill's tax cut provisions.

According to the CBO's full January 26 cost estimate of the stimulus bill:

Assuming enactment in mid-February, CBO estimates that the bill would increase outlays by $92 billion during the remaining several months of fiscal year 2009, by $225 billion in fiscal year 2010 (which begins on October 1), by $159 billion in 2011, and by a total of $604 billion over the 2009-2019 period.

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Combining the spending and revenue effects of H.R. 1, CBO estimates that enacting the bill would increase federal budget deficits by $169 billion over the remaining months of fiscal year 2009, by $356 billion in 2010, by $174 billion in 2011, and by $816 billion over the 2009-2019 period.

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Outlays projected for 2009 would occur over a 7 1/2 month period.

Therefore, according to the CBO, $92 billion in outlays -- or 11.2 percent of the $816 billion stimulus plan -- would take effect in the remaining “7 1/2 month period” of fiscal year 2009. Likewise, tax cuts and outlays in the first seven-and-a-half months would account for $169 billion -- or 20.7 percent -- of the $816 billion plan, according to CBO.

From the January 27 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck:

BECK: So let me go through some of these things here with you on the stimulus package. I know you met with the president today on the stimulus package.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN): Yeah.

BECK: Help me just understand this. This is about illegal immigration. Help me understand this: quote, this is quoting from the -- it's a 647-page document. This is section 7003: “In general, as soon as practicable, after the date of enactment of this act, the comptroller general of the United States shall conduct a study regarding erroneous tentative non-confirmations under the basic pilot confirmation system established under section 404A of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.”

What are they even talking about? I've had two researchers look at this all day. They even tried to read it backwards. They tried to take every fourth letter and try to figure this out. How can anyone look at this piece of legislation on a stimulus package -- you are voting on this tomorrow. Only 3 percent of it is spent in the next 12 months. Why the rush?

BACHMANN: There is no rush. As a matter of fact, a Democrat, [Rep.] Paul Kanjorski [D-PA], who's the head of a subcommittee, called today for a slowdown on this. This isn't just Republicans now; now, Democrats are skittish.