As Trump tax bill advances in Senate, CBO warns of $3.3 trillion deficit increase
- Alexangel Ventura
- Jun 29
- 2 min read
A new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office warned that Trump's "One, Big, Beautiful Bill" would add nearly $3.3 trillion to the federal deficit as it advances through the Senate chamber of Congress.
The Congressional Budget Office, managed by a group of Democrats and Republicans, is a nonpartisan group which has recently achieved remarkable recognition from politicians as it offers some of the most damning predictions for Trump-era spending bills, like this year's "BBB."
The CBO has projected the "BBB" to increase the national deficit by almost $3.3 billion in a period of about ~10 years (ending in 2034). This increase can be divided between a revenue decline of $4.5 trillion and a $1.2 trillion spending cut from Medicare.
Donald Trump campaigned heavily in 2024 alongside billionaire Elon Musk on unleashing budget savings in the federal treasury, and the bill has been projected to increase savings by $507.6 billion over the next decade. Although this is no small sum of money, it pales in comparison to the revenue losses generated by the lofty tax cuts included on the bill.
In addition, the bill would include a whopping $4.5 trillion in tax cuts according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, a large percentage of which will be given to wealthy Americans.
To sustain such a large increase in the deficit, Republican lawmakers added a $5 trillion increase to the debt ceiling.
This bill was revised after facing heavy scrutiny by many Republicans like Thomas Massie and even former Trump ally Elon Musk, both criticized the bill for not taking action against the debt crisis. Trump removed Musk from his position in the White House and has called for a primary challenger for Massie in the 2026 midterm elections.
Trump and Republicans are trying to revise the bill to estimate costs based off of if current laws stayed in place, which would prevent the price from appearing inflated. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of the bill since its conception, argued, "Republicans can use whatever budgetary gimmicks they want to try and make the math work on paper... but you can’t paper over the real-life consequences of adding tens of trillions to the debt."
The cost of the bill increased by over half-a-billion from the initial CBO estimate of $2.8 trillion when it first appeared in the House.
Two Republican senators have voiced their opposition to the bill: Rand Paul and Thom Tillis. Paul, a key supporter of Musk, voiced similar concerns of increases to the deficit. Tillis unexpectedly also voiced his opposition to the bill and subsequently announced that he would not run for re-election in the 2026 midterms, leaving that seat open as a Democratic pickup. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, two moderate Republicans in the Senate, have not yet picked a side, but if both commit to opposing the bill, it will likely fail in the Senate, preventing its passage entirely.
Murkowski recently announced further resentment against the Trump administration amid the tax bill's proposition, causing some to predict her to leave the Republican Party.
