Senior Republican Senators Want Hearings on $1.75 Trillion Budget, Claim Details Hidden

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The ranking Republicans on all 13 Senate committees demanded hearings, committee votes and the public release of legislative text of the Democrats’ $1.75 trillion reconciliation budget that vastly expands US social welfare spending, in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released on Thursday.

“Hiding the details of the real cost of the trillions of dollars in new government spending and tax increases by using budgetary gimmicks is an attempt to disguise the true cost and impact the reckless tax and spending spree will have on the nearly $29 trillion national debt, rising prices, jobs and inflation,” the letter said.

“There needs to be full transparency on the proposal and sunshine on any possible budget gimmicks to understand the true cost."

The letter signed by senior Republicans on 13 Senate Committees was released by Senator Chuck Grassley on the Judiciary Committee.

The letter seeks open hearings by committees responsible for parts of the plan, votes in those committees and public disclosure of the actual bill, which is still being drafted. Disputes among US House Democrats and fears that some measures face long odds of winning Senate approve have delayed progress toward a final package for the Senate to consider.

The letter also cited new budget models from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business that project a total cost of nearly $4 trillion with budgetary offsets of $1.5 trillion for a bottom line of about $2.5 trillion.

In contrast, the Biden administration claims the $1.75 trillion spending plan includes more than $9 trillion in offsets that will reduce the budget deficit, tame inflation and spark a rebound in an otherwise sluggish US economic recovery.