Senate Republicans’ version of President Donald Trump’s expansive tax bill is poised to add even more to the debt than the one proposed by their House counterparts, according to an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The Senate bill, which could still change, would add approximately $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next ten years, the CBO announced in an analysis released on Sunday. That surpasses the $2.4 trillion the House version was estimated to add to the debt in the same timeframe.
A significant reason for this discrepancy is the approach to certain tax cuts in the Senate legislation compared to those in the House’s. The Senate bill, like the House version, is also set to slash funding for social programs, including Medicaid and SNAP. The CBO finds that it would leave 11.8 million people uninsured if it were to go into effect, compared to the House bill, which would leave 10.9 million people uninsured.
In both measures, Republicans are attempting to pay for sizable tax cuts, including breaks for corporations, by reducing spending on key social programs.
Sunday’s CBO estimate is likely to exacerbate Republican divide over the cost of the legislation, which has been a sore spot for fiscal hawks like Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who have expressed concerns about the amount it would bloat deficits.
“I’ve been trying to interject reality. I’ve been trying to interject facts and figures. They’re on my side,” Johnson previously said while the House was weighing the bill.
Despite this opposition, however, the Senate narrowly voted to begin debate on the bill on Saturday evening, with just two Republicans—Paul and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)—voting against doing so. Senators will spend the coming evening debating and then voting on amendments, with a final vote on the measure to come after potential tweaks.
Any amended version of the legislation will also have to pass the House again, where vocal critics of its cost, like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), have already voiced their concerns.
The White House has long sought to downplay the effects the legislation is expected to have on the national debt, claiming that it wouldn’t balloon deficits even though repeated CBO analyses have suggested otherwise.