WASHINGTON—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) joined Liz MacDonald on The Evening Edit to discuss the Congressional Budget Office’s score of the Senate infrastructure bill and rising inflation.
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Hagerty on the CBO score of the infrastructure bill: “We’ll see how it unfolds, but I’m not very happy with it either, Liz. We’ve just had the CBO score come out and it’s going to add over a quarter of a trillion dollars to the deficit. That’s what I’ve been concerned about all along. They’ve tried to push this thing through so fast. They tried to put it through first without any text. And now we finally [have] gotten the scoring and what it’s going to cost America. I can tell you this, Washington math can be very funny, it can be very perplexing. I’ve been a businessman all my life, and it’s hard to understand, but I can understand this: It’s going to be inflationary and it’s going to add to the debt and the deficit that our children and grandchildren are going to continue to bear.”
Hagerty on the inflationary impact of the Democrats’ reckless spending: “As we’re studying this, and again, we just got the scoring a few hours ago. I think more and more of the Senate here tier are going to realize that this isn’t as it’s been billed. We were told all along that this is going to pay for itself. And the CBO has come through with the scoring and said, ‘Not so fast, again, over a quarter of a trillion dollar shortfall here.’ So we’re going to have to see how this unfolds, but it’s certainly not as it’s been billed before. And I don’t think any of us want to see us add to the deficit, add to the burden on our children. And I’ve been very concerned. You and I talked about this before, Liz, about the inflationary impact of what’s happening right now.”
Hagerty on rising inflation: “I think inflation is going to become a very bitter pill for the Democrats to try to swallow. They’re trying to shove it down our throats right now, here in America, saying that it’s transitory. But if you look at what’s happening in my state, it feels like the $1 menu at McDonald’s is turning into the $5 menu in Joe Biden’s America. Gas prices are up. Home prices are up. There’s no way this isn’t inflationary in the long-term. And at this point in time, as our economy’s recovering to talk about dumping trillions yet again into the economy and putting more of a debt burden on our children’s back, I think this is going to be very, very difficult for the Democrats in 2022 and beyond.”