Top Trump adviser: Economic growth will bring down US debt
President Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Thursday dismissed concerns about a rising federal deficit, while insisting that economic growth would bring down the debt.
“I’ve never been much of a deficit hawk,” Kudlow said at an event hosted by Economic Club in Washington. “Growth is going to solve a good deal of that deficit and debt burden on the economy.”
Since Trump took office, the budget deficit has exploded, largely as the result of the GOP tax bill signed into law last December as well as a bipartisan agreement to increase discretionary spending.
{mosads}The budget watchdog group Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget noted this week that legislation passed by Congress in fiscal year 2018 through 2017, which includes the tax law, would add $2.4 trillion to the debt over a decade.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that the 2019 deficit will near $1 trillion, and the White House’s own budget office predicted it would surpass that amount.
Still, Kudlow insisted that economic growth would ultimately bring in more revenues and lower the debt level, which is measured in comparison to the size of the economy. The current U.S. national debt is over $21.5 trillion.
“I believe the deficit-to-GDP ratios will be coming down eventually — not immediately, but over time,” he said.
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