
CBO issues score on how much Build Back Better would cost if programs were permanent
CNN
The Congressional Budget Office has released a new analysis of the Democrats' social safety net plan to see how much the bill would cost if a series of provisions were extended long term, fulfilling a GOP request intended to portray the bill as far more expensive than it seems.
The CBO estimates that the version of the legislation without sunsets would "increase the deficit by $3 trillion over 2022 to 2031." The analysis assumes that any extension wouldn't be paid for. The current bill, known as the Build Back Better Act, does not include such extensions to the provisions.
The analysis released Friday notes it does not include how much the CBO believes would be raised from tax enforcement mechanisms. It's longstanding policy the CBO does not include that kind of estimate here.

The US military’s strikes in Iran over the weekend prompted a swift response from across the federal government to react to any fallout, but current and former officials say the administration’s DOGE-driven cuts to a host of agencies have made it harder to grapple with the conflict and prepare for potential retaliation.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Wednesday said in a statement that the agency had obtained “a body of credible evidence [that] indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program has been severely damaged” by recent strikes, underscoring a broad intelligence community effort is ongoing to determine the impact of the US strikes on three of the country’s nuclear sites on Saturday.

White House’s DOGE spending cuts request runs into criticism, questions from some Senate Republicans
The head of the White House budget office on Wednesday defended the Trump administration’s push to enact sweeping cuts to federal funding, even as some Republican senators voiced concerns and raised questions about the breadth of them.