Trump tax bill is too expensive. GOP needs to make deep spending cuts. | Opinion
Republicans control the White House, Senate and House. They have no reasonable excuses for continuing to spend well beyond what is necessary and prudent.
I like much of what is packed into President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill" that the full House is expected to vote on this week.
But there's a lot not to like as well: Far too much spending that will add to the already enormous and dangerous national debt and federal deficit.
The tax cuts in the legislation, including the elimination of income taxes on tips and overtime, will help millions of ordinary Americans. The bill also permanently extends the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which has been a financial boon for many of us. According to a new report from the Council of Economic Advisers, the tax provisions in the bill will raise take-home pay by as much as $13,300 per family and wages by as much as $11,600 per worker.
That's incredible, and far more beneficial to average Americans than anything former President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris did in the previous four years.
Yet, Trump's bill isn't so beautiful when you look at how much it would add to the national debt each year.
Trump bill would add trillions to the national debt
The Congressional Budget Office has projected a 2025 fiscal year deficit of $1.9 trillion. A large chunk of the responsibility for such egregious fiscal irresponsibility falls on Biden, who was president when the current spending plan was approved.
But Republicans now control the White House, Senate and House. They have no reasonable excuses for continuing to spend well beyond what is necessary and prudent. And Trump's bill would add nearly $4 trillion to the debt.
GOP holdouts are on the right track
Not every Republican in the House is going along with this recklessness. True fiscal conservatives such as Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma and Ralph Norman of South Carolina have repeatedly raised objections, despite intense pressure from the president and House leaders to stand down.
On May 20, Roy posted on X: "Congress doesn’t need to layer more central planning garbage on top of more garbage (blue state winners/losers, IRA subsidies etc). We are bloated enough. And broke. Limit gov spending, put money back in the pockets of hard-working Americans and get the hell out of their way."
I agree with Roy. Cutting spending is vital, not only to trim the deficit but also to fuel economic growth as the government allows the free market to work as intended.
Spending cuts are also popular, at least in the abstract. A Cato Institute poll last month found that 64% of Americans want to balance the budget primarily through spending cuts.
More Republicans in Congress should back Roy and the other holdouts. It's past time for Republicans to be hawkish on spending.
Trump's tax cuts are big. But deeper spending cuts would be truly beautiful.Nicole Russell is a columnist at Paste BN and a mother of four who lives in Texas. Contact her at nrussell@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @russell_nm. Sign up for her weekly newsletter, The Right Track, here.