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The White House is challenging the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s assessment that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending package will raise the federal deficit by trillions of dollars throughout the next decade.
The national debt, currently $36.2 trillion, tracks what the U.S. owes its creditors, while the national deficit measures how much the federal government’s spending exceeds its revenues. So far, the federal government has spent more than $1 trillion more than it has collected this fiscal year, according to the Department of the Treasury.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued an analysis Wednesday predicting that the so-called “big, beautiful, bill” the House passed in May would increase the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years.
But according to the White House, the CBO’s analysis is based on a faulty premise because it assumes that Republicans in Congress will fail to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.
Rather, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) forecasts that the tax and spending measures would independently reduce deficits by $1.4 trillion.
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Additionally, the White House argues that the measure, coupled with other initiatives like tariffs and other spending cuts, will lead to reducing the deficit by at least $6.6 trillion over 10 years.
The “big, beautiful, bill” has faced criticism from figures including SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who labeled the measure an “abomination” and argued that the bill would increase the federal deficit.
The measure now heads to the Senate, where lawmakers, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-K.Y., have voiced opposition to the legislation.
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Meanwhile, OMB Director Russell Vought told lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday that he believed the CBO’s analysis was “fundamentally wrong.”
“It will lead to reduced deficits and debt of $1.4 trillion,” Vought said. “It will reduce mandatory savings of $1.7 trillion. I don’t think the way they construct their baseline, not only does it not give a fair shake to economic growth, but it fundamentally misreads the economic consequences of not extending the current tax relief.”
Failure to pass Trump’s tax package would trigger a recession, according to Vought.
“We’ll have a recession,” Vought told lawmakers. “The economic storm clouds will be very dark. I think we’ll have a 60% tax increase on the American people.”
Meanwhile, the White House has accused the CBO of employing those who’ve contributed to Democratic campaigns, even though CBO Director Phillip Swagel served in former President George W. Bush’s administration.
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“I don’t think many people know this: There hasn’t been a single staffer in the entire Congressional Budget Office that has contributed to a Republican since the year 2000,” Leavitt told reporters Tuesday. “But guess what, there have been many staffers within the Congressional Budget Office who have contributed to Democratic candidates and politicians every single cycle since. So unfortunately, this is an institution in our country that has become partisan and political.”
The CBO director is appointed according to the recommendations of the House and Senate Budget Committees. Then-Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, first recommended Swagel in 2019, and then Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, recommended Swagel again in 2023.
The CBO did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital on OMB’s analysis or claims from the White House about the office being full of staffers who’ve backed Democrats.
Fox News’ Deirdre Heavey contributed to this report.
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