evidence: CBO Score Highlights the Massive Budget Gimmicks Behind Build Back Better After months of turbulence and a record night of speechifying in opposition by Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the House today approved the latest version of Democrats’ trillion-dollar social spending plan on a partisan 220-213 vote. Dubbed the Build Back Better plan, the legislation now advances to the Senate, where Punchbowl News describes its prospects ominously: "The Senate is going to spend weeks, maybe months, revising this legislation." And while the bill’s title suggests it creates a coherent bridge between the pandemic and a better society, in reality it’s a grab bag of old and new proposals for massively expanded government benefits. It’s also an affront to anyone who thinks lawmakers should identify tax hikes sufficient to credibly cover the cost of new spending programs. [...] The shrinkage of the legislation from its former supposed $3.5 trillion spending level is noteworthy in other ways, too. If offered as its own legislation, those proposed changes — an apparent shift of over $1 trillion — would constitute one of the largest bills in American history. Yet there have been no committee hearings or markups on those changes, all crafted behind closed doors by House leaders since standing committees acted in September. Instead, new temporary select committees created as megaphones for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other liberal cheerleaders for this massive spending plan are currently the closest thing to public deliberation in the House.