These numbers are grossly misleading and hugely partisan. Unless someone does not consider interest as a very real expenditure, the cost of this spending bill is actually over a trillion dollars. Over a 10-year period, that number will likely rise to about $3.3 trillion according to the Congressional Budget Office. This estimate includes making 20 key provisions of H.R. 1 permanent, more than $700 billion in interest costs, and the original cost of the bill passed by the House (take away a few measly billions cut by the Senate).
I suspect the amount shown above for the cost of the Iraq War is using liberal economist Joseph Stiglitz’s numbers, which take into account macroeconomic and social costs not directly linked to Iraq. Current estimates for the Iraq War widely vary but a $1+ trillion price tag would be far more realistic. The long-term costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could be as much as $2.4 trillion, according to the CBO.
Both numbers are exorbitantly high. Numbers so high that I can’t even wrap my head around them. This kind of spending is unfortunate however you want to paint it but to undermine one figure and exaggerate the other, for partisan reasons, is just disingenuous. All I want is for this economy to get better, without the government spending even more of the people’s money; and for this war to be over, without our safety being compromised.
