If all on President Obama’s wish list of policy reforms put forth at Tuesday’s State of the Union were to come true, the total cost to taxpayers, according to one fiscal watchdog group, would exceed $83 billion.
The National Taxpayers Union Foundation used Congressional Budget Office figures to arrive at an $83.4 billion price tag for all of Mr. Obama’s new spending projects, as outlined in his Tuesday address, according to a story in The Washington Examiner.
That’s the most expensive plan ever announced by Mr. Obama in a State of the Union, The Examiner said. Tax analysts with the group cited some of the costs this way: Mr. Obama’s cap-and-trade plan would cost more than $56 billion a year. His American Jobs Act would cost more than $15 billion per year. And his call to fix infrastructure around the nation would cost nearly $8 billion per year.
The NTUF findings would seem to belie Mr. Obama’s claim that his spending plan wouldn’t “add a dime to the deficit,” as he said during his State of the Union, the Examiner reported. Still, the NTUF added that Mr. Obama’s address didn’t contain the highest costing policy plans among all presidents; that honor goes to President Bill Clinton, the Examiner reported.
Mr. Clinton, according to the NTUF, wanted policy reforms in 1999 that would have cost $327 billion, the Examiner reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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