Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called Monday for the Republican tax law to be repealed after the Congressional Budget Office projected that the deficit will hit $1 trillion in 2020.
The CBO projected that the budget deficit will rise to $804 billion for 2018 before hitting the $1 trillion mark in 2020 — two years earlier than anticipated. The national debt is also expected to hit $33 trillion in ten years after it hit the $21 trillion mark last month. Democrats are laying blame at the acceleration of the deficit and debt with the tax law that was passed in December.
“Over and over again, President Trump and his administration falsely claimed that their $1.5 trillion tax cut bill would pay for itself,” Sanders said in a statement. “Today’s Congressional Budget Office report puts that myth to rest.”
“According to CBO, President Trump’s massive tax break for the wealthy and large corporations is the primary reason that the federal deficit and national debt will explode over the next decade,” Sanders said. “Republicans are already using the huge increase in the debt that they caused as an excuse to make major cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That is unacceptable.”
“At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, we have got to repeal all of President Trump’s tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations and rebuild the disappearing middle class,” he added.
Republicans in favor of the law argued that the tax cuts would recoup some of the revenue losses through economic growth despite estimations that the legislation will cost $1.9 trillion over 11 years and explode the deficit. The deficit is slated to hit $1.5 trillion in a decade.
Republicans have also been on the defensive over the $1.3 trillion spending package that was passed over two weeks ago. The deal came together after Republicans and Democrats agreed to a deal in February that raised the spending caps by $300 billion over two years.
