DSA leader dismisses $49T cost estimate for socialist policies as a 'made-up number'
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) national co-chair Megan Romer was pressed on Fox News about how much socialist policies will cost American taxpayers after DSA-backed candidates made significant gains in midterm elections.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) estimated that DSA policy proposals, including Medicare for All and student debt cancellation, would cost taxpayers $49 trillion. Romer, who said the group's incoming lawmakers will prioritize affordability, dismissed the staggering price tag as "outrageous," calling it a "made-up number."
"The White House, who does not like us very much, managed to come up with some math that made us look bad," Romer said on "The Story." "But we don't agree with these numbers."
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The CEA’s report estimated the DSA’s policy wish list will cost about $355,000 per American household over the next decade.
After rejecting the administration's figures, Romer declined to offer an independent estimate of her own when pressed by Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum, saying the cost "depends."
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"There's no, like, one, solid number because it depends on what pieces we can build in the meantime," the DSA leader said. "So it's about building up programs and then sunsetting old, bad programs, and that number is going to shift as we pass various things."
"I'm not going to give you a solid number. That's not what I'm here to do," she continued. "What I'm here to do is talk about how we collectively can democratically decide how we want our money to be spent."
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Romer criticized the scale of U.S. military spending, arguing that federal resources devoted to overseas military operations would be better redirected toward the DSA's policy priorities, including amnesty for illegal immigrants and abolishing the Senate.
"We don't believe in having 800 U.S. military bases around the world," Romer said. "That is an insane amount of money to spend… Our military spending is outrageous, and most of that money is going to defense contractors. It is making a handful of billionaires richer."
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MacCallum countered her claims about excessive military spending, saying the U.S. defense budget is only $961 billion compared to an estimated $47 trillion for DSA policies to be funded.
In a July interview with Fox News, Romer stood by her positions to abolish the Senate, replace the presidency and Supreme Court, and to eradicate Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She also defended wanting to abolish borders and grant amnesty to illegal immigrants in the United States.
"We do agree that it will cost money to provide healthcare to everyone, but it will cost less money than we spend on the military and on these illegal wars right now," Romer said Wednesday.