The White House on Tuesday sought to downplay the head of the Congressional Budget Office’s assessment about a key revenue stream in paying for the president’s $1.75 trillion social spending plan.

Phillip Swagel, director of the nonpartisan CBO, said Monday that a plan to beef up the IRS in order to crack down on tax cheats would yield about $120 billion over a decade, just a fraction of the $400 billion the Biden administration is counting on.

During a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on Tuesday, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates cast doubt on the CBO’s calculation. 

“There has been wide agreements on the part of everyone involved —  moderates, liberals, etc. — that CBO does not have experience analyzing revenue amounts gained from cracking down on wealthy tax cheats who are taking advantage of every honest taxpayer,” Bates said.

The CBO has released previous projections on IRS enforcement activities, including in September of this year and in July 2020. 

Bates added: “There's a huge body of work from economic experts, including Republican former treasury secretaries, IRS commissioners who have served served under presidents of both parties, as well as (former Treasury Secretary and National Economic Council Director) Larry Summers, with whom we have sometimes had important differences, affirming that, if anything, our estimates lowball how much revenue can be brought in by cracking down on rich tax cheats.”

Swagel suggested the Biden administration is being overly optimistic that more aggressive auditing would deter wealthy people and corporations from seeking out new ways to avoid paying taxes.

Bates said, outside of the IRS enforcement projection, “CBO’s fiscal data so far lines up with our estimates that we released to all of you for costs, or they even come in below our estimates.”  

The CBO said Monday it plans to publish its complete cost estimate for Biden’s Build Back Better proposal by the end of the week.

The report could be critical in determining the legislation’s fate. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and other moderate Democrats are wary about adding to the nation’s national debt. 

Democrats are attempting to pass the package —  which aims to cut the cost of child and elder care, offer free universal preschool, make health care more affordable and accessible, and address climate change — using the budget reconciliation process that requires only support of a simple majority in the Senate. But in the evenly divided chamber, they likely cannot afford to lose a single vote. 

Bates said the White House remains confident that it will receive the 50 votes needed.