Chairman Arrington debunks false claims about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) spoke on the House floor, where he outlined how H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, advances President Trump’s full America First agenda and debunked false claims that the legislation would increase the debt.
Watch Chairman Arrington's remarks HERE.
Excerpts from the Chairman’s Speech
Comparing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to the Inflation Reduction Act
“Let’s do a comparison and contrast with our Democrat colleagues when they had control of both chambers and the White House. They too used the tool of budget reconciliation to advance what was their partisan Democrat agenda. They spent over the last four years, under the Biden-Harris administration and Democrat control, they added $8 trillion to the national debt. They did it by expanding the federal government, offering Obamacare to people making hundreds of thousands of dollars, price-fixing in the drug markets and having premiums go up on seniors. They did it by expanding the IRS by 80,000 IRS agents and by offering tax subsidies to green energy corporations to the tune of $850 billion dollars. So, when they had the tool of budget reconciliation and unified Democrat leadership, that’s what they offered to the American people: more spending, more debt, more government and less freedom.
We have the tool and the unified Republican control of both chambers and we’re investing in border security and defense because we believe the safety and security of the American people is job number one. Providing the common defense is the first and most important job of the federal government.
Secondly, we’re spending money to allow hardworking American families to keep more of their money and to incentivize investment, growth, job creation, wage increase because we have been sputtering along because of the failed economic policies of the failed economic policies of my Democrat colleagues and the Biden-Harris administration and their unbridled reckless spending.
So, there’s your comparison. One gives you more government, with more spending and debt and the other has a completely offset [approach], with a modest reduction in deficit spending, a ten-point reduction in debt to GDP. And we have the largest tax cut, the largest spending cut, the largest investment in border and defense in the history of this country… [It’s] the most significant commitment to unlocking American energy resources in our nation’s history.”
Setting the Record Straight on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Growth Assumption
“In defense of some of the myths and false claims that [have] propagated, [like suggestions] this bill will somehow increase the debt — [that] is totally false and is using a baseline CBO score with a growth assumption based on the policies and laws of the last four years.
I think 1.8% growth is actually generous considering the last four years and the economic policies of our Democrat colleagues. What we did was we assumed a growth rate not based on CBO or JCT or any other predictive modeling. We said the best way to predict future achievement is past performance. What did President Biden have as an annual average growth rate? What did President Trump achieve? On average, Biden was at 2.7 percent if you control for COVID. If you control for COVID, then Trump had a 2.8 percent annual average. Since World War II, the annual average has been a little over 3 percent. We picked a conservative number, but we know we’ll outperform it with good energy policies, work incentives, deregulation, America First trade, and locking [in] low taxes from TCJA. Well, that 2.6 percent annual average, that conservative growth assumption, will yield $2.5 trillion over the ten-year budget window.
If you stack the spending reforms— which by the way, are the deepest cuts by two times in our nation’s history—[and] you add the two, you totally offset the cost of border, of defense, and any cost associated with reducing taxes. So, it’s fiscally responsible. It will do the two things that you primarily need to do in order to restore the fiscal health of this country and put it on a stable path, and prevent or stave of a debt crisis of some magnitude. It grows the economy; it deals with economic growth which brings revenue to the Treasury. One percent growth over the projections of CBO is $3 trillion against the deficit and it starts to bend the curve on deficit spending.”
More from the House Budget Committee
Read H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act HERE.
