Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said in a Monday interview that he would “probably” vote against President Trump’s tax agenda if it means more deficit spending.
In an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Chris Stirewalt asked the congressman — who voted reluctantly for the bill when it passed the House last month — whether he thinks he will be able to “get to a yes on what comes back from the Senate,” noting indications so far suggest, “this legislation is not moving in your direction.’
“If it’s more deficit spending, then probably not. I think we need to really take that serious,” Burchett told Stirewalt.
The Senate Finance Committee on Monday released its long-awaited version of the “big, beautiful bill,” which includes provisions to make the 2017 corporate tax cuts permanent, cut hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid spending and phase out renewable-energy tax cuts enacted under President Biden.
The Senate version includes several changes to the House-passed version, including a provision to raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion instead of the $4 trillion increase adopted by House Republicans.
Burchett, in the interview, suggested that the legislation “would slow the rate of growth,” adding, “but it’s still growing.”
“I would hope we can slow it to zero and go the opposite direction at some point. America’s got to take this serious, or we’re going to become a third world country,” he added.
The House-passed bill would cut spending by $1.6 trillion over ten years but, according to the Congressional Budget Office, add $2.4 trillion to the federal deficit.
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