SOCIALISM PRICE TAG: White House Pegs DSA Agenda at $49 Trillion 

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A new White House economic analysis is putting a staggering price tag on the Democratic Socialists of America’s national platform, giving Republicans fresh ammunition against Nevada Democrat Reps. Dina Titus, Susie Lee and Steven Horsford ahead of the midterms.

The Council of Economic Advisers examined eight major planks of DSA’s newly adopted “Workers Deserve More” program and estimated that seven of them would add roughly $49 trillion to federal deficits over a decade after accounting for projected revenue from a wealth tax. The White House translates that figure to approximately $355,000 per American household.

DSA’s own platform calls for Medicare for All, cancellation of student debt, free public education through college, a 32-hour workweek with full pay, a Green New Deal, aggressive wealth taxes and public ownership of major corporations and essential industries. It also advocates abolishing ICE, replacing the two-party system and abolishing the U.S. Senate.

The White House analysis modeled two broad ways Washington could finance the agenda. If financed through higher taxes, CEA estimates after-tax hourly wages would fall 28.4 percent, which it calculates as roughly $22,000 in lost annual income per worker. If financed through borrowing, the report projects 30-year mortgage rates could rise above 12 percent and consumer prices could more than double over the decade. Those are alternative financing scenarios, not three separate costs automatically imposed at the same time.

Republicans are working aggressively to connect Nevada’s congressional Democrats to the growing socialist wing of their party.

All three Nevada Democrats voted September 1 against a House resolution condemning socialism “in all its forms.” The resolution passed 220-192, with Titus, Lee and Horsford each voting no. Eight Democrats supported the measure. 

Meanwhile, DSA has become increasingly visible in national politics. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is a DSA member, while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has long identified as a democratic socialist and remains endorsed by the organization’s New York City chapter. 

The NRCC seized on the White House numbers Friday, arguing that Nevada voters should view the DSA platform as a warning about the direction of a future Democrat-controlled House. The committee did not provide evidence that Titus, Lee and Horsford have endorsed the entire DSA platform.

“The numbers don’t lie: If radical Democrats Dina Titus, Susie Lee, and Steven Horsford and their socialist party take power, they will drive down take-home pay by tens of thousands per year, send mortgage rates sky-high, and pile trillions into the national deficit,” NRCC spokesman Christian Martinez said. “Titus, Lee, and Horsford want more power so they can stick families with bigger bills.” 

For Nevada Republicans, the argument heading into November is straightforward: make the national socialist movement, its increasingly ambitious platform and its estimated economic cost part of the choice voters make in Nevada’s congressional races.

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