Tax cuts and pandemic relief measures enacted during the Trump administration added $8.4 trillion to the national debt over the 10-year budget window, according to a study released Wednesday by a top budget watchdog group.
Discretionary spending increases from 2018 and 2019 added $2.1 trillion, Trump’s signature Tax Cuts and Jobs Act added $1.9 trillion and the 2020 bipartisan CARES Act for pandemic relief added another $1.9 trillion, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a Washington think tank, found in a study released earlier this month.
“Of the $8.4 trillion President Trump added to the debt, $3.6 trillion came from COVID relief laws and executive orders, $2.5 trillion from tax cut laws, and $2.3 trillion from spending increases, with the remaining executive orders having costs and savings that largely offset each other,” budget experts with the CRFB wrote in a summary of the report.
The only significant deficit reduction enacted by the Trump administration noted in the report was due to tariffs levied on a variety of imported goods, which are calculated to have brought in $445 billion over 10 years.
Yes let’s focus on the national debt: famous winning issue for progressives.
Or is the goal to catch republicans on hypocrisy? I thought it was clear by now that the republican base literally doesn’t care so long as there is a hooting tooting demagogue that triggers Democrats in the White House.
You’re not changing anyone’s mind if they are in the base. This is information for swing voters who care about the debt.
Focus on something that actually matters, like healthcare, cost of living, police violence, reducing the military budget so there is money for schools or infrastructure. There are many issues that actually have an effect on peoples lives, national debt is not one of them. And if you focus on national debt republicans will actually win more votes because they are the issue owner.
That’s what makes fair politics hard: it all matters.
I agree but “you should care about something else” is not a great political message.
Why would anyone care about the debt?
Because I like having a stable country.
Do you like stability?
If we keep putting shit on debt rather than, you know, paying for it upfront, eventually the country will be drowned in debt and shit can’t be taken care of.
I also like the idea of not being cursed by my (proverbial…) grandkid’s kids