Boyle at Ways and Means Hearing: Republican Policies Will Explode the Deficit, Raise Prices, and Betray the Middle Class

WASHINGTON, DC – During a Ways and Means Committee hearing, Congressman Brendan F. Boyle (PA-02), a senior member of the committee and Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, exposed the harmful impact of permanently extending the Trump tax cuts and imposing new tariffs.

Congressman Boyle highlighted that extending the Trump tax cuts would add $4.6 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. These tax cuts disproportionately benefit the ultra-wealthy and large corporations, while Republicans will use the resulting deficit as a pretext to cut essential programs for the American middle class. Boyle, joined by expert witness Brendan Duke from the Center for American Progress, also emphasized that Trump’s proposed tariffs would raise prices for everyday Americans, placing additional financial strain on the middle class.

Questions as delivered and video are below:

Congressman Boyle’s Questioning:

Rep. Boyle: I do want to return to the history of eight years ago, because it's often said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

Eight years ago, the very top priority of then-President Trump and a unified Republican Congress was the so-called Tax Cuts and Job Act, which, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office showed, 83 percent of the benefit went to the richest 1 percent. No wonder that in the entire history of Gallup polling, the only poll to register majority voter disapproval, as opposed to approval, was the TCJA.

And it wasn't just one poll. Poll after poll showed only about 40 percent of the American people supported the Trump tax cuts, while a majority, somewhere in the mid 50 percent range, opposed them. The wisdom of the American people was proven to be right. That added $2 trillion to our national debt. So now that it's 8 years later and they're set to expire, the question is, how much more debt would this policy add?

The CBO again released a report in May, and they've testified, before the Budget Committee, another committee on which I serve as Ranking Member. They showed in their report the full extension of the TCJA would add $4.6 trillion to the national debt. So for the last four years I keep hearing from a number of my friends on the other side of the aisle how concerned they are about deficit, how concerned they are about debt.

I do tend to notice that whenever there's about to be a Republican in the White House, we tend to hear a lot less concern about deficit and debt. And the top priority is always tax cuts for the richest 1 percent of Americans. Now, Mr. Duke, with a great first name, let me turn to you, Brendan, and ask you, do tax cuts pay for themselves? 

Brendan Duke: No.

Rep. Boyle: And, the $4. 6 trillion figure that the nonpartisan professionals at the CBO found, which is also similar to analysis done by the Wharton School and by other nonpartisan groups as well, does that sound approximately the right number? 

Brendan Duke: Yup. 

Rep. Boyle: And you are familiar with some of the other reports and analysis that has been done by other groups. They're all approximately in that 4 and a half trillion range, correct? 

Brendan Duke: Yeah, that's right.

Rep. Boyle: So it is fair to say that if we fully extend the TCJA, we will be adding at least four trillion dollars more to the national debt. 

Brendan Duke: That's right. 

Rep. Boyle: Now let me turn, to tariffs. Tariff is another word for tax, is it not? 

Brendan Duke: That's right.

Rep. Boyle: So if President Trump follows through on his promise to do wholesale tariffs on imported goods, that would be, in reality, like a national sales tax on anything that we get abroad, correct? 

Brendan Duke: That's right. 

Rep. Boyle: It's funny, it seems to me that one of the big drivers of this past election was dealing with the global increase in inflation, a problem that wreaked havoc all around the world, from the Baltics and Germany, through the UK, to Canada, the US, Asia, started in 2021 once economies began to get back into full swing after the COVID pandemic and that we had to restart supply chains. Would tariffs make goods less expensive for the American people? 

Brendan Duke: Absolutely not. 

Rep. Boyle: In fact, tariffs would make goods more expensive for the American people. 

Brendan Duke: That's right.

Rep. Boyle: Thank you. With that, I yield back.

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