While the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) delivered President Trump bad news regarding his transformative “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” Trump, administration officials and GOP leaders are pushing back against this analysis.
The CBO’s assessment fails to account for the economic growth that Trump’s tax cuts have historically generated, using what the White House calls an “artificial baseline” for their projections.
The comprehensive legislation, which narrowly passed the House in May, includes substantial tax cuts totaling $3.7 trillion while reducing government spending by $1.2 trillion.
President Trump is now pressing for Senate approval by the Fourth of July, despite resistance from some Republican senators concerned about deficit impacts.
White House budget director Russell Vought defended the bill against CBO criticism, emphasizing its historic fiscal responsibility.
“It includes $1.7 trillion in mandatory savings, the most in history. If you care about deficits and debt, this bill dramatically improves the fiscal picture,” Vought stated.
Congressional Budget Office analysis: President Donald Trump's big bill will cut taxes by $3.75 trillion but also increase deficits by $2.4 trillion over the next decade.
See what's in the bill, in the WBAL-TV app: https://t.co/tiFhFt4Iq1 pic.twitter.com/mLU2aF7SYN
— WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore (@wbaltv11) June 4, 2025
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise questioned the CBO’s track record, noting their consistent failure to account for economic growth resulting from tax cuts.
“When it comes time to make prognostications on economic growth, they’ve always been wrong,” Scalise said.
This underscores how the 2017 tax cuts generated unprecedented economic growth and record-low unemployment before the pandemic.
Furthermore, the legislation extends individual income tax breaks from the successful 2017 tax reform while adding new benefits, such as eliminating taxes on tips for service workers.
It also allocates $350 billion for enhanced border security, deportations, and national security, addressing key priorities for conservative voters.
Some fiscal conservatives like Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) have voiced concerns.
Still, the bill significantly reduces wasteful spending by phasing out inefficient green energy tax breaks and implementing common-sense work requirements for government assistance programs like Medicaid and SNAP.
Democrats have predictably attacked the legislation, with Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer falsely claiming Republicans “just want to strangle health care.”
This misleading rhetoric ignores how the bill targets wasteful bureaucracy while protecting essential services for those truly in need.
Some GOP senators have suggested splitting the package, but Trump maintains the importance of passing it as a unified bill through reconciliation.
The legislation represents a comprehensive approach to implementing the president’s economic agenda while addressing border security and government waste.
Despite criticism from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who called the bill a “disgusting abomination,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) defended the legislation as essential for American prosperity.
The bill would increase the debt limit by $4 trillion, but this is necessary to cover existing obligations while implementing reforms that will strengthen the economy long-term.
As the Senate deliberates, conservatives remain focused on the legislation’s core benefits:
Extending tax cuts that fueled economic growth, securing the border, eliminating wasteful spending, and implementing work requirements that restore dignity to government assistance programs.
