CBO: GOP tax bill will add $2.4 trillion to deficit, leave 10.9 million uninsured – National & International News – WED 4Jun2025
Congressional Budget Office: GOP tax bill will add $2.4 trillion to deficit, leave 10.9 million uninsured
Smoke from Canadian fires impacts US air quality, reaches Europe.
Putin will “respond” to recent Ukrainian drone strikes in Russia, Trump says.
Congressional Budget Office: GOP tax bill will add $2.4 trillion to deficit, leave 10.9 million uninsured
The nonpartisan Congressional budget Office has released analyses of both the tax and budget bill making its way through Congress, and Trump’s program of tariffs. Together, the CBO’s predictions add up to a very grim economic outlook.
Similar to previous analyses, the CBO predicts that the tax and budget bill, as currently written, will increase the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years and leave 10.9 million more Americans uninsured over the same period.
Credit rating agency Moody’s recently downgraded the US credit rating over concerns about the US deficit. Lowering the US credit rating means it will cost more for the federal government to borrow money and service its existing $36 trillion in debt.
Cutting services to make rich richer
The deficit will be increased by making Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, which will mostly benefit the wealthiest Americans. In order to offset this massive deficit increase, Republicans in Congress propose to cut services that millions of Americans rely on, including the poorest Americans.
The programs affected include food assistance programs and Medicaid. The bill includes new Medicaid eligibility requirements, which the CBO predicts will leave nearly 11 million more Americans without health coverage by 2034.
CBO says Trump tariffs will shrink economy
The CBO also predicted that Trump’s program of tariffs, which were in place as of May 13, will shrink US economic output, increase inflation, and reduce the purchasing power of American households. Overall, they predict that US gross domestic product (GDP) will shrink by 0.06% every year that they are in place.
In one piece of good news, the CBO also predicted that Trump’s tariffs, if left in place for 10 years, would reduce the US federal deficit by $2.8 trillion due to duties raised on imported goods. This would theoretically negate Congressional budget bill’s $2.4 trillion budget increase, with $400 billion left over. But at what cost?
This $2.8 trillion in tariff duties will ultimately be paid by American consumers. Middle-class and working-class Americans spend much a higher percentage of their income on consumer goods than the wealthy. Ultimately, the combination of the tax bill and the tariffs amount to a massive transfer of wealth from the poor and working class to the wealthiest Americans.
The combination of reduced financial liquidity, shrinking output (which means fewer jobs), an increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of fewer Americans, and the decrease in government services, the two CBO outlooks predict a grim economic future for working-class and middle-class Americans.
Related:
Experts say millions of US kids would lose child tax credit under GOP budget bill.
Smoke from Canadian fires impacts US air quality, reaches Europe
For several days, wildfires have been blazing out of control in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Over 33,000 people have been forced to evacuate in the three provinces, the vast majority from Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The fires have already burnt about 5.5 million acres of land across the country.
As of Tuesday, there were 21 active fires in Saskatchewan and 27 in Manitoba. In the case of Manitoba, officials say most of the fires were caused by human activity. The situation has been made worse by windy and dry conditions in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which are expected to persist for several days.
Smoke from the fires has impacted air quality across much of the Eastern United States. By far the worst affected areas have been in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The smoke has also drifted across the Atlantic and has reached parts of Western Europe as well. The impacts both in the US and Europe are expected to worsen as the fires continue to burn and grow.
Putin will “respond” to recent Ukrainian drone strikes in Russia, Trump says
In recent days, Ukraine carried out a complex drone attack within Russia, which authorities say had been planned for months. Ukrainian operatives within Russia smuggled in Ukrainian-made quadcopter drones, which were then transported to areas across Russia within reach of major Russian air bases. Ukrainian pilots then activated and piloted the drones remotely, targeting the airfields. Ukraine claims to have destroyed 41 Russian war planes of various kinds, but Russia says these claims are exaggerated.
Interestingly, satellite images give evidence of tactics used by Russia to attempt to protect their planes from Ukrainian drone attacks. Several of the airfields had decoy planes painted on the runways, some of them embellished with debris to give them dimension. The images also show that tires and other objects have been placed on top of the planes in the hope of fooling the targeting system of the Ukrainian drones.
Ukraine also claimed credit for an explosive attack on one of the piers supporting the bridge connecting Crimea to the mainland. However, this resulted in only temporary disruption on the bridge.
President Trump held a lengthy phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin today. Trump called it a “Good conversation” but said it was unlikely too late to peace in the near future. Trump also said that Putin communicated to him “very strongly” that Russia would soon respond to Ukraine’s recent drone attacks.
Despite Ukraine’s use of innovative and non-conventional tactics, Russian troops have continued to make territorial gains in Eastern Ukraine. Recent Peace talks did not offer much in the way of hope for a ceasefire. However, more swaps of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine were agreed.
Other news of note:
Judge blocks deportation of Boulder suspect’s family.
Trump admin has removed over 500 migrant children from their homes in US.
