Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- The CBO projects Trump's tax package will add $2.4 trillion to debt.
- Republican leaders question the CBO's accuracy, citing underestimated economic growth.
- Utah Sen. Mike Lee pushes for changes to reduce the national debt.
WASHINGTON — The tax package containing President Donald Trump's top priorities would add $2.4 trillion to the national debt, according to new projections — but top Republican leaders are trying to raise questions about the report's accuracy.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released its projections in a new report Wednesday morning, outlining the economic effects the massive reconciliation package could have over the next decade. The number is likely to rattle some fiscal hawks in the Republican Party, particularly those who say they won't vote for anything unless it reduces the deficit.
But GOP leaders argue the report doesn't factor in the economic growth that will likely come from the tax cuts tucked into the package, urging lawmakers not to take the projections at face value.
"I think there's some people that start reading too many Congressional Budget Office reports and ignore the lessons of history," House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters on Wednesday. "They've always been wrong because they've always ignored economic growth."
The White House has echoed similar sentiments, accusing the CBO of failing to take into account "any of the new revenues from the Trump reciprocal tariffs."
Top Republicans have also pointed to CBO projections from Trump's 2017 tax bill as evidence, noting the office was $1.5 trillion short in its revenue projections.
"CBO has never properly recognized the massive economic growth that comes with lower taxes," Scalise, R-La., told the Deseret News. "That's why they were wrong by more than $1.5 trillion in 2017, and the same reason why they are wrong again this time."
But those warnings are unlikely to assuage some Republicans who have been raising red flags for weeks about the tax bill's effect on the economy, calling for major changes to the budget framework to further reduce the deficit.
Among those is Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who has hinted for weeks he'll advocate for substantial edits to Trump's "big, beautiful bill" in order to address the national debt.
"Unless we turn this around quickly, our debt and deficit will increasingly threaten our ability to fund the basic operations of government," Lee said in a post on X. "This harms hardworking Americans — especially the poor, who are hit hardest by the invisible, highly regressive tax this inevitably creates (in the form of inflation)."
Still, other Republicans have supported leadership's concerns about the CBO, arguing that there are fair criticisms to its past projections that have proven to be inaccurate.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., noted "criticism is fine" — but warned the nonpartisan office is "still the standard we need to plan with."
"It is fair to say the CBO significantly underestimated the revenues with the 2017 (tax) bill," Bacon told the Deseret News.
The CBO projection comes as the Senate begins consideration of the Big Beautiful Bill Act this week as some Republicans push for major changes to further reduce the deficit. One way to do that is to find deeper spending cuts to certain government programs, a strategy Lee has strongly advocated for.
The current budget proposal greenlights roughly $4.5 trillion to extend the tax cuts Trump approved in 2017 paired with at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts to help offset those costs.
