Fears of soaring debt and unregulated AI put Trump megabill at risk
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- The CBO report found that 10.9 million more Americans would be without health insurance by 2034 because of the bill.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer referred to the bill as the “Well, We’re All Going to Die Act.”
WASHINGTON — Landmark legislation proposed by the Trump administration would add $2.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, a steep increase in deficits amid growing concern in Washington and on Wall Street over the country’s fiscal stability, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.
The CBO report, which also found that 10.9 million more Americans would be without health insurance by 2034 because of the bill, comes amid searing criticism from one of President Trump’s most prominent allies, Elon Musk, over spending levels in the legislation that he labeled an “abomination.”
The independent budget office also found in a separate report that Trump’s tariffs, if left in place at existing levels, would cut annual deficits over the next 10 years by roughly the same figure. That finding could provide the president with ammunition in the political battle ahead over the future viability of the bill. But that same CBO report found his tariff policy would severely shrink the U.S. economy.
The assessments are fueling debate over the legislation, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” on Capitol Hill, where senators are considering drastic amendments to a draft of the bill passed by the House last month.
Republicans and Democrats alike in the Senate are expressing wariness over the costs of the bill, which renews tax cuts passed during Trump’s first term, introduces a tax deduction for seniors and phases out green energy tax credits.
Attempting to balance those expensive programs, House Republicans proposed historic cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Several Senate Republicans, including Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, have expressed dismay over the cuts and have previewed significant Senate changes to the language.
And a single clause in the draft legislation, which went unnoticed by several House lawmakers before the vote, would attempt to implement a 10-year ban on state efforts to regulate artificial intelligence. Public awareness of the provision has generated yet more debate over the future of the bill and an unlikely coalition of liberal Democrats and far-right Republicans warning against its passage.
White House on defense
The Trump administration had already been on defense over the future of the bill, which barely secured enough support among fiscal hawks in the House Freedom Caucus to win passage through the House last month.
House Republicans approved the measure in late May along party lines and with few votes to spare. But multiple Republicans in the Senate, where the party holds a slim majority, have balked at its effects on the deficit, as well as several major proposals in the legislation that would result in millions of Americans losing access to Medicaid coverage.
President Trump faces the challenge of convincing Republican senators, global investors, voters and even Elon Musk that he won’t bury the federal government in debt with his multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package.
One GOP senator, Joni Ernst of Iowa, drew national criticism over the weekend after responding to constituent concerns regarding Medicaid cuts at a town hall last week by saying, “well, we are all going to die.”
The exchange put threats to Medicaid in the legislation back in the headlines, forcing the White House to put out a news release on Monday with the subject line: “MYTHBUSTER: No, People Will Not ‘Literally Die’ with the One Big Beautiful Bill.”
In a news conference on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) referred to the bill as the “Well, We’re All Going to Die Act.”
“Despite the lies that Republicans have been telling Americans and maybe themselves, there’s a cold, harsh reality that this bill is just tax breaks for the ultra wealthy paid for by gutting healthcare for up to 16 million Americans,” Schumer said.
And some House Republicans, too, are now expressing regret over their votes for the bill.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said that she had overlooked the AI provision of the legislation. Had she caught it before the vote, she said, she wouldn’t have supported it.
“This clause would take away state rights to make laws or regulate AI for 10 years,” she said. “I think federalism is something that we must always protect, and I warn against the dangers of protecting a tech industry where we have no idea of what this industry will hold.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also opposes the AI provision, warning it will allow for routine corporate abuses of American households. Real estate companies, for example, have tried to use the technology to skirt price fixing laws and raise rents nationwide, she said.
“State and local governments saw this happening and were trying to put a stop to their scheme,” Warren added, “but Republicans just threw the software companies a lifeline.”
Musk sharpens criticism of bill
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was already at the briefing room lectern Tuesday when Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a special advisor to President Trump until just last week, launched into a scathing rebuke targeting his signature legislation.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote on his social media platform, X. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.”
“Shame on those who voted for it,” he added. “You know you did wrong. You know it.”
It was the latest, sharpest critique of the bill from Musk, who ended his tenure as a special government employee last week despite his efforts to stay on, according to an Axios report.
The Trump administration could pull $4 billion in federal funding from California’s high-speed rail project within 37 days, following a Department of Transportation compliance review.
In a CBS interview aired last week, Musk also called the bill a disappointment. “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful,” he said, “but I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion.”
The bill would also cut clean energy tax credits passed during the Biden administration, which have benefited Musk’s electric vehicle company, Tesla.
Trump has also bucked Musk on other matters in the entrepreneur’s final days on the job. Despite Musk’s opposition, Trump brokered an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to build the largest artificial intelligence campus outside of the United States with the backing of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, a Musk rival.
The president also withdrew Jared Isaacman, reportedly an ally of Musk, as his nominee for NASA administrator. Musk’s rocket ship company, SpaceX, relies heavily on government contracts.
“The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,” Leavitt said at the briefing, asked to respond to Musk’s X post. “It doesn’t change the president’s opinion.”
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