Also, Trump said that Putin would retaliate against Ukraine. Here’s the latest at the end of Wednesday.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office announced today that the broad Republican bill to cut taxes and slash some federal programs would add $2.4 trillion to the already soaring national debt over the next decade.
The analysis was all but certain to inflame intraparty tensions between fiscal conservatives and President Trump, who does not share the party’s longstanding aversion to government debt. The bill, which was designed to enact the president’s agenda, has already passed the House. But some Senate Republicans have vowed to oppose any legislation that, in their view, would lead to excessive government borrowing.
Trump said that his critics were misguided and insufficiently loyal. His allies have sought to undermine the budget experts whose job it is to analyze the effects of legislation. The White House has argued that the tax cuts would lead to major economic growth, thus paying for themselves. The Joint Committee on Taxation, another nonpartisan office, disagrees.
For more on the Republican bill:
We made a list of everything included in the legislation, and how much each provision is expected to cost or save.
One big talker in the bill: a proposal to stop taxing tips. Here’s who it would benefit.
Trump said that Vladimir Putin told him during a phone call today that he planned to retaliate against Ukraine for its major drone attack. Trump described the call on Russia’s war in Ukraine as “a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate peace.” He did not say whether he had tried to dissuade Putin.
