NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” is facing criticism, even from within his own party, as some lawmakers remain skeptical about the massive spending package and its potential impact on the nation’s debt, despite it being under consideration by a Republican-controlled Congress.
The spending bill, which the House passed late last month and is now in the Senate’s hands, aims to address a number of issues, including tax policy, border security and immigration, defense, energy production, the debt limit, and adjustments to SNAP and Medicaid.
However, without a serious overhaul, lawmakers like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is still a “no” on the legislation because it will increase the nation’s debt limit. He is among a group of at least four Republican senators who have expressed concerns over Trump’s bill, because of the package’s projected increase in the national debt.
RAND PAUL SAYS HE WOULD SUPPORT ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ IF DEBT CEILING HIKE REMOVED
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Monday said he is still opposed to President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” despite discussions with him. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
This week, Paul relayed his concerns to media members that the bill will raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion.
“We have never raised the debt ceiling without actually meeting that target,” he said. “So you can say it doesn’t directly add to the debt, but if you increase the ceiling $5 trillion, you’ll meet that. And what it does is it puts it off the back-burner. And then we won’t discuss it for a year or two.”
As of Tuesday, the national debt, which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors, was $36.2 trillion, according to the Treasury Department. Trump pushed back on Paul’s remarks about his bill.
TRUMP WARNS RAND PAUL HE’S PLAYING INTO ‘HANDS OF THE DEMOCRATS’ WITH ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ OPPOSITION
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to the media after…
