Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected criticism that last year’s Republican tax cuts are to blame for the ballooning federal budget deficit, instead saying that large federal spending programs are the problem, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
McConnell, who called the rising deficit “very disturbing,” said there was not much chance Republicans could cut mandatory spending programs such as Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid next year if they maintained control of Congress because any such changes would need leadership from Democrats.
McConnell’s remarks came a day after a Treasury Department report said the budget deficit soared 17 percent from last year to $779 billion in President Donald Trump’s first full fiscal year in office, the highest since 2012.
Democrats had warned during the tax cut debate that the plan would boost the deficit through tax reductions and then seek to make up the losses by cutting social programs.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi seized on McConnell’s comments, saying, “Like clockwork, Republicans in Congress are setting in motion their plan to destroy the Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security that seniors and families rely on, just months after they exploded the deficit by $2 trillion with their tax scam for the rich.”
Republicans spent most of the Obama administration slamming deficits, but they have mainly ignored the issue during the Trump administration to support his agenda of raising spending while cutting taxes, the Post reported.
Although McConnell blamed the deficit on social programs, the Post pointed out there haven’t been policy changes in those programs to explain the increased deficit, while there were major changes with the tax cut and bipartisan deals to remove spending caps.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.