House Ways and Means Democrats took Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to task over the trillions of dollars Republicans’ “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill would add to the national debt.
Bessent appeared before the committee Wednesday to justify the administration’s fiscal 2026 budget request, spending much of his time praising and defending the budget reconciliation bill the House passed last month.
Democrats repeatedly asked Bessent whether the bill would add to the deficit. The Congressional Budget Office estimated last week that the tax-and-spending cuts package would increase deficits by $2.4 trillion over 10 years.
