US Senate moves toward passing Trump’s tax cuts despite soaring debt

The US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said on Sunday that the Senate version of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt, roughly $800 billion more than the version passed by the House last month.

The nonpartisan office issued its estimate of the bill’s impact on the $36.2 trillion federal debt as Senate Republicans prepared to push the legislation forward in a marathon session over the coming days.

Republicans, who have long expressed concern over the rising deficit and national debt, rejected the CBO’s longstanding methodology for calculating the cost of legislation. However, Democrats are hoping the latest staggering figure will raise enough alarm among fiscally conservative Republicans to break ranks with their party, which currently controls both chambers of Congress.

Late Saturday, the Senate narrowly advanced the bill through a procedural vote, with lawmakers voting 51-49 to open debate on the massive, 940-page legislation.

Trump praised the vote on social media, calling it a “great victory” for his “great, big, beautiful” bill.

He is pushing for the legislation to be passed before the Independence Day holiday on July 4. While the deadline is self-imposed, lawmakers face a far more pressing deadline later this summer when they must raise the federal debt ceiling or risk defaulting on the $36.2 trillion debt, a move that would have severe consequences.

The sweeping legislation would extend the tax cuts passed in 2017, Trump’s signature legislative achievement during his first term, while introducing new tax reductions and ramping up military and border security spending.

Senate Republicans, who dispute the CBO’s cost estimates, are insisting on using an alternative accounting method that excludes the cost of extending the 2017 tax cuts. Outside tax experts, such as Andrew Lautz from the nonpartisan Bipartisan Policy Center, have described this approach as “magic math.”

According to the center’s analysis, using that methodology makes the Senate Republicans’ bill appear far less costly and even suggests it would save $500 billion.

If passed by the Senate, the bill will return to the House for final approval before being sent to Trump for signature into law. The House passed its version of the bill last month.