President Trump's big budget bill making its way through Congress will cut taxes by $3.7 trillion but also increase deficits by $2.4 trillion over the next decade, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The analysis comes at a crucial moment in the legislative process as Trump is pushing Congress to have the final product on his desk to sign into law by the Fourth of July, reports the AP. The work of the CBO, which for decades has served as the official scorekeeper of legislation in Congress, will be weighed by lawmakers and others seeking to understand the budgetary impacts of the sprawling 1,000-page-plus package.
Ahead of the CBO's release, the White House and Republican leaders criticized the budget office in a preemptive campaign designed to sow doubt in its findings. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the CBO has been "historically wrong," and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the CBO was "flat wrong" because it underestimated the potential revenue from Trump's first round of tax breaks in 2017. The CBO last year said receipts were $1.5 trillion, or 5.6% greater than predicted, in large part because of the "burst of inflation" during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. More:
- The CBO sees an increase of 10.9 million people without health insurance under the bill, including 1.4 million who are in the country without legal status in state-funded programs. The package would reduce federal outlays, or spending, by $1.3 trillion over that period.
- The CBO had previously estimated that 8.6 million people would no longer have health care and 4 million fewer would have food stamps each month.
- The package would provide a $4 trillion increase to the nation's debt limit, which is now $36 trillion, to allow more borrowing. The Treasury projects the debt limit will need to be raised this summer to pay the nation's already accrued bills.
- The package seeks to extend the individual income tax breaks that had been approved in 2017 but will expire in December, while also adding new ones, including no taxes on tips. It also includes a massive buildup of $350 billion for border security, deportations, and national security.
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