Trump Mega-Bill Total Cost Skyrockets to Add Staggering $4.1 TRILLION to Debt: CBO Analysis
(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The director of the Congressional Budget Office wrote a letter to the senior Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee on Monday explaining that President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act will actually add over $4 trillion to the deficit, some $700 billion more than previously estimated.
Phillip L. Swagel sent the letter to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and noted, “The Congressional Budget Office and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimate that over the 2025–2034 period deficits will increase by $3.4 trillion for the legislation as enacted, excluding any macroeconomic or debt‑service effects.”
The CBO’s initial $3.4 trillion estimate caused many Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), to attack the non-partisan data office. Swagel goes on to explain the increase:
CBO estimates that the additional debt-service costs under the legislation as enacted will total $718 billion over the 10-year period. That change will increase the cumulative effect on the deficit to $4.1 trillion. As a result, and net of any changes in borrowing for federal credit programs, the agency estimates that the legislation will increase debt held by the public at the end of 2034 by 9.5 percentage points relative to CBO’s January 2025 baseline budgetary projections of gross domestic product (GDP).
Several Republican lawmakers publicly criticized Trump and the GOP for passing the bill in the first place. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) called the bill, which lowers taxes and raises spending, a “debt bomb ticking,” while Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) warned of over $5 trillion in additional debt.
“Leadership from both parties legislate in 2- to 4-year windows, just enough to protect their seats, never the country. That’s why D.C. spends like there’s no tomorrow. Because they don’t care what happens after the next election. I won’t rubber-stamp $5 trillion in debt so they can pretend they’re doing something,” wrote Paul on X in June.
Read the full letter here.
