A New York Post editorial misleadingly claimed that the Congressional Budget Office said the recently passed state aid bill “will bloat the deficit another $13 billion over 10 years, using 'pay as you go' accounting.” However, that figure excludes much of the savings used to pay for the bill, and CBO said that when accounting for these savings, the measure reduces deficits by around $1.4 billion over ten years.
NY Post falsely suggests state aid bill increases deficits
Written by Jocelyn Fong
Published
NY Post: State aid bill “will bloat the deficit another $13 billion” using “pay as you go” accounting
From an August 12 New York Post editorial (emphasis added):
Voters' focus on spending forced Democrats to make a telling choice this week -- between public unions and folks on food stamps.
Guess who they picked? Yup: To fund another bailout -- $26 billion to save teaching and other government jobs -- Dems cutmoney meant to feed the poor.
President Obama inked the bill Tuesday -- to great cheers (natch) from teachers.
True, food-stamp spending will still go up, but not by as much. Dems also hiked taxes again, by $10 billion. Yet the Congressional Budget Office says even that isn't enough: The measure will bloat the deficit another $13 billion over 10 years, using “pay as you go” accounting.
But that figure excludes savings used to pay for the bill
Bill partly paid for with Recovery Act funds. As the New York Post noted, the state aid bill was paid for in part by cuts in food stamp spending. However, the Post did not note that these cuts come from the Recovery Act funds that increased food stamp benefits. As the Washington Post reported, the bill “rescinds after 2014 an increase in food stamp payments enacted in last year's $862 billion stimulus package.” The bill also includes rescissions of budget authority from some Recovery Act programs.
CBO estimated that the bill would reduce deficits by $1.37 billion over 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office estimate of the bill states that the “Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Effects” of the bill are an increase in deficits by $12.6 billion over 10 years. However, CBO noted that this figure:
Excludes savings in Titles II and III that would result from changes to programs and rescissions of funds previously designated as emergency, which total about $14 billion over the 2010-2020 period.
The Post editorial falsely suggested that the savings from the food stamp cuts were included in this “pay as you go” estimate. CBO stated that when accounting for these savings -- which “are not counted in the calculation of the effect on the deficit under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010” because they were emergency funds - the bill reduces deficits by $1.37 billion over ten years.