The White House on Tuesday pushed back on Senate Republicans who oppose President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” because they say it will increase the federal deficit.
Speaking to reporters during the daily White House press briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt called out GOP Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky, saying they are talking “without having their facts together.”
She also took aim at the Congressional Budget Office, painting the nonpartisan agency that forecasts the cost of legislation as a left-leaning, anti-Trump entity that “has been historically wrong.”
“There hasn’t been a single staffer in the entire Congressional Budget Office that has contributed to a Republican [campaign] since the year 2000, but guess what, there have been many staffers within the Congressional Budget Office who have contributed to Democrat candidates in every single cycle,” she said. “So unfortunately, this is an institution in our country that has become partisan and political, and we are very confident in our own economic analysis of this bill, there is $1.6 trillion in savings.”
Ms. Leavitt also said the CBO was wrong in 2017 when it predicted that Mr. Trump’s tax cuts would generate half a trillion dollars less than they actually generated.
The comments are part of a full-court press Tuesday by the White House to persuade Senate Republicans to get behind Mr. Trump’s centerpiece legislation that would extend his tax cuts and boost defense and border security spending.
Earlier Tuesday, Mr. Trump lashed out against Mr. Paul on Truth Social.
“Rand Paul has very little understanding of the BBB, especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming. He loves voting ’no’ on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, but it’s not. THE BBB is a big WINNER!!” Mr. Trump posted.
“Rand votes NO on everything but never has any practical or constructive ideas. His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can’t stand him. This is a big growth bill,” Mr. Trump continued.
Mr. Paul is among a handful of Senate Republicans who have expressed opposition to the bill, which the House approved last month. Mr. Paul said the measure would raise the debt ceiling and cost taxpayers too much.
Mr. Paul said his red line is a provision in the legislation that would raise the nation’s borrowing limit. The House version of the bill included a $4 trillion debt-ceiling hike, while the Senate’s budget blueprint contained a $5 trillion increase. He has called for removing the debt ceiling provision from the bill and voting on the issue separately.
“If I vote for the $5 trillion debt, who’s left in Washington that cares about the debt?” Mr. Paul told CBS. “The GOP will own the debt once they vote for this.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.