May 20 (UPI) — The Republican-backed tax and spending bill would add trillions of dollars to the federal deficit and negatively affect the poorest of Americans, experts say.
Tax policy proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump would add more than $3 trillion to the national debt, according to data released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO found that the House Republican’s budget proposal and its tax provisions would cut federal revenue by around 10% of America’s current national debt over the next decade.
Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans are rushing to pass the bill by Memorial Day with a goal to cement Trump’s tax cuts from 2017 and pass a string of other priorities before the July 4 holiday.
The GOP bill proposal could cost American taxpayers $3.8 trillion over the next 10 years, according to a report this month by the Joint Committee on Taxation, which looked at the effect of tax policies versus spending cuts.
“This bill does not add to the deficit,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed Monday during a press briefing.
On Friday, Moody’s Ratings downgraded the U.S. debt citing the GOP proposal that Moody’s says will tack on $4 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.
As proposed, the bill would extend Trump’s tax cuts largely to the wealthiest Americans and cut personal income tax rates. It also establishes fresh tax reductions on tips, Social Security, overtime payments and loan interest on automobiles produced in the United States.
A May 19 analysis by the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton school projects that under the Republican plan, the lowest-income American citizens would end up paying more.
Leavitt said the Trump administration’s Council of Economic Advisers claim that there’s $1.6 trillion worth of savings in the GOP bill.
“That’s the largest saving for any legislation that has ever passed Capitol Hill in our nation’s history,” Leavitt continued.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., faces a battle to unify his caucus around the package where it will face its own challenge in the full Senate.
At least five House GOP members considered vulnerable in the 2026 midterm elections — including Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. — have vowed to vote against the bill unless it ups the proposed state and local tax deduction from the current proposed $30,000.
On Tuesday, the president was on Capitol Hill to meet with Johnson and lawmakers in order to push his legislative agenda.
“While I respect President Trump and understand the importance of passing this legislation, I will not do so at the expense of my district,” Lawler posted on X Tuesday afternoon.
Lawler noted that his district was one of only three kept by a Republican that then-Vice President Kamala Harris had won in November’s presidential election in a heavily-taxed Congressional district.
“For over two years, I have been abundantly clear to everyone from the President to House Leadership about the importance of lifting the cap on SALT,” he said about state and local tax deduction caps.
