Lubbock Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) appeared on CNBC's “Squawk Box” to address the recent update from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) regarding fiscal projections for 2024-2034. This update revises the February baseline, projecting a deficit of $1.9 trillion for FY24—$400 billion higher than previously estimated. Additionally, interest spending has surged by $540 billion or 153 percent since President Biden assumed office.

Chairman Arrington expressed concerns about these developments during his interview: "Leading up to this point, you've had trillions of dollars in legislative actions that were purely partisan, whether it was COVID or the Inflation Reduction Act, but the unilateral executive actions, the cost there is a total of $2 trillion, a third of which is the student loan bailout. So, we're now at the highest level of annual deficit... It's the highest level of annual deficit in the history of our country in terms of peacetime deficit."

Arrington further emphasized that current debt levels surpass those seen during World War II and highlighted rising interest costs: "The cost to service the debt... has tripled under President Biden to $540 billion... And now we're spending more on interest than we're spending on national defense... It's even outpacing Medicare this year."

Discussing immigration-related expenditures, Arrington noted: “Even if you net out any positive gains... I don't think the open border chaos is the solution. $150 billion is the conservative estimate... That's more than we spend for military retirement benefits." He also pointed out significant waste and fraud within federal programs: "There are programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit... wasting 30 cents on the dollar."

On economic growth and fiscal policies, Arrington cited an analysis by The Center for Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB): "Their report has a $1.9 trillion score on Trump tax cuts... Their rescoring revising it by a trillion dollars because of record revenue.” He concluded with recommendations for economic policies: “We've got to grow the economy… you can't attack your domestic energy… Before tax cuts, our business tax rates were higher than any in the free and developed world.”

Further information from House Budget Committee includes an executive summary of CBO’s updated budget projections for FY 2024-2034 and comparisons between CBO’s February 2024 baseline report and June 2024 update.