What Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Would Do to the National Debt

 Time - President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax-and-spending bill could come with a big, ugly cost, economists warn.

Nonpartisan research groups studying the proposal have estimated that it would add more than $2.5 trillion to the federal debt—currently at an all-time high of $36.8 trillion—over the next decade. 

Despite those projections, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday insisted that the bill would actually save the federal government $1.6 trillion: “This bill does not add to the deficit,” she told reporters. “It is the largest savings for any legislation that has ever passed Capitol Hill in our nation’s history.”

The White House and the Office of Management and Budget did not respond to a request for comment on how that $1.6 trillion figure was calculated. 

Fiscal watchdogs have sharply disputed such claims, citing the bill’s steep tax cuts—estimated at $3.8 trillion—and relatively modest spending reductions. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the House bill in its current form will increase debt by $3.3 trillion through 2034, and increase annual deficits by $2.9 trillion to $3.3 trillion.