Ivanka Trump: Tax cuts and deregulation will 'ultimately eliminate the national debt'
Screenshot/Fox News
- Ivanka Trump appeared on Fox News' morning show, "Fox & Friends," for the second time this week to promote the GOP tax bill.
- Trump said that she and Sen. Bob Corker, a longtime deficit hawk, believe the tax cuts, combined with deregulation, will "ultimately eliminate" the country's $20.6 trillion debt.
- That theory flies in the face of virtually all nonpartisan research, which shows that the GOP bill will increase the deficit by up to $1.4 trillion.
Ivanka Trump, President Donald Trump's eldest daughter and top White House adviser, appeared on Fox News' morning show, "Fox & Friends," for the second time this week to promote the GOP tax bill, which Congress passed on Wednesday.
In the Thursday-morning interview, Ivanka Trump described winning the support of Republican Sen. Bob Corker, the longtime deficit hawk who had previously vowed never to support legislation that adds "one penny" to the national debt. Nonpartisan analyses projected the GOP tax bill would explode the deficit by as much as $1.4 trillion over 10 years.
Trump said Corker "felt his concerns were adequately addressed" by the White House and GOP leadership. She said the senator believes the tax cuts, combined with the administration's mass elimination of federal regulations, would "ultimately eliminate" the US's $20.6 trillion debt.
"He really believes that tax relief, coupled with the administration's deregulatory actions, will create the growth that will start to erode and ultimately eliminate the national debt that has been accrued over the last several decades," Trump said.
This theory — that the bill will pay for itself and even erode existing debt through increased economic growth — is unsubstantiated. Virtually no nonpartisan studies or experts have found that the GOP bill, which slashes the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, will be deficit-neutral or decrease the debt-to-GDP ratio.
Tax experts and Democrats say the GOP is grossly overstating both the potential economic boost from the tax cuts and the increases in investment by businesses.
Calling the bill's passage a "historic accomplishment," Trump praised Republican members of Congress, including Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. Kevin Brady, with whom she said she worked closely behind the scenes to rapidly shepherd the bill through the legislative process.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Paul Ryan and other top Republicans are beginning to publicly promote the next GOP priority: cuts to spending on welfare, Medicare, and Medicaid programs. While cuts to entitlement spending would help mitigate the dramatic loss in revenue from the tax cuts, President Trump campaigned on a promise to protect the programs from any cuts.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday that he didn't expect to focus on entitlements next year, pointing to an expected effort on infrastructure reform.
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