Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' faces resistance from Republican senators over debt fears

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

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

"Rand Paul has very little understanding of the BBB, especially the tremendous GROWTH that is coming. He loves voting ‘NO’ on everything, he thinks it’s good politics, but it’s not. The BBB is a big WINNER!!!" Trump wrote on TRUTH Social.

Meanwhile, the national deficit, which occurs when the federal government’s spending exceeds its revenues, was $1 trillion as of Tuesday, according to Treasury Department data. 

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the "blatantly wrong claim that the ‘One, Big, Beautiful Bill’ increases the deficit is based on the Congressional Budget Office and other scorekeepers who use shoddy assumptions and have historically been terrible at forecasting across Democrat and Republican administrations alike."

SEN. RON JOHNSON PROPOSES 'LINE-BY-LINE' CUTS TO PASS TRUMP'S 'BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL'

The outlook for the federal debt level is bleak, as FOX Business previously reported, with economists increasingly sounding the alarm over the torrid pace of spending by Congress and the White House

Under the terms of the bill, the bill would add over $2 trillion to budget deficits over a decade, according to a recent analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

All together, the tax cuts and reforms in the package add nearly $3.8 trillion to the deficit over a decade – though spending reductions in other parts of the bill offset some of that to arrive at the $2.3 trillion figure.

Elon Musk, who ended his tenure last week as Trump’s lead in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), doubled down on his position Tuesday that the House’s reconciliation package was an "abomination."

WHITE HOUSE STANDS BY TAX BILL AFTER MUSK CALLS IT A ‘DISGUSTING ABOMINATION’

"I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore," Musk posted on X Tuesday. "This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it."

The Trump administration and some congressional Republicans have pushed back on the estimates of the bill, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and its impact on the deficit, arguing that economic growth from the tax cuts will stimulate economic activity and lead to more tax revenue than what is projected.

SPEAKER JOHNSON CLASHES WITH RAND PAUL OVER 'WIMPY' SPENDING CUTS IN TRUMP'S BILL

"Hope it does a lot to get some further cuts," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., told Fox News about the bill. "We don't want to bankrupt the country. And what Elon also should recognize is we don't need more solar and EV credits. That actually makes it worse. He probably knows that, though."

To push back on the criticism, the White House launched a website where Americans can tabulate how much the bill will personally save them.

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The House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on May 22 with a narrow 215-214-1 vote that went largely along party lines.

If that version of the bill is revised by the Senate, the legislation will have to go back to the House for another vote before it can go to Trump's desk and become law. 

Ex-boxer opens up about being granted clemency by Trump and the president potentially pardoning Diddy

Former professional boxer Duke Tanner remembers witnessing a murder on his first day in prison in 2004. 

"I watched the guy walk out the unit, blood seeping out of his neck. He dropped on the floor and ended up dying later," Tanner told Fox News Digital, recalling his thoughts at the time.

"'It's my new environment. I got to survive. I'm not going to die in here. I'm not going to be him.'"

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He wound up in jail after getting caught in a drug trafficking sting operation while trying to make additional money for his family.

"I thought it was a robbery at first. So, when I saw it was cops, I was really at peace," he said.

He was sentenced to two life terms, ending his boxing career and separating him from his family, including his son, who was just 2 at the time, for 16 years. He dedicated his time in prison to embracing Christianity and taking up every rehabilitation program available. 

And Tanner remembers the night in 2018 when he realized President Donald Trump would be the one who would end his sentence.

BIDEN CLEMENCY ANNOUNCEMENT GETS MIXED REVIEWS ON CAPITOL HILL: ‘WHERE’S THE BAR?'

"I had a dream, and I woke up," Tanner said. "I started writing a letter once a week to the White House after I had that dream, and, two years later, I was let go." 

After being denied clemency by former President Barack Obama in 2016, Tanner was granted clemency by Trump in 2020. In May, the former boxer was granted a presidential pardon. Tanner visited the White House to thank Trump in person.

"I got to thank him, and he remembered my case. And he said, 'Man, you had a bad road, but you got a beautiful son. I hear you’re doing great things. And continue the good work. I'm watching you,'" Tanner said. 

In August, Tanner published a book, "Duke Got Life: A Boxer's Fight for Freedom and One Last Shot at Redemption," detailing his story. 

Weeks after Tanner received his presidential pardon, Trump floated the idea of giving a presidential pardon to hip-hop artist Sean "Diddy" while he's on trial for sex trafficking. 

Tanner, who admits he hasn't followed the "Diddy" case closely and isn't "at liberty" to discuss the rapper's charges, revealed how he would feel about the idea of Combs getting a pardon from Trump. 

"This administration is going to read every piece of paperwork. They're going to get to the facts. They're going to get to the bottom of everything. And if he decides to make that move, it's a positive move, because he went through the system," Tanner said, referencing Trump's criminal trial last summer over alleged hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels. 

"He knows what they did to him to try and make him a convicted felon, to make him get found guilty of all those counts. So, he knows the prosecution misconduct. He knows how they do it. He knows that it's a broken system." 

Tanner also suggested Trump's pardons are a means of holding those involved in the criminal justice system accountable. 

"And he's trying to show them, 'You guys do y'all job right, or I'm going to come and fix it for you and embarrass you,'" Tanner added. 

"So, with that being said, if he decides to do it, evidently he saw something, and he got the best lawyers around him. …  I'm not at liberty to even speak on [the Diddy trial]. I don't know what's going on. I'm just saying I don't care who it was. If the president said that he wanted to do it, believe me, there's a reason behind it, and that the law wasn't handled correctly." 

Tanner said he knows a lot of other people who are incarcerated who he believes deserve clemency. 

"I definitely know there's so many men and women that need clemency to be let out of the system," Tanner said. 

Tanner has already witnessed another president give a series of controversial pardons in the last year. Former President Joe Biden granted a series of pardons before leaving office in December, including to his son Hunter Biden, who was due to be sentenced for federal gun and tax convictions. 

"I heard about it. He freed his son," Tanner said. "It can never be comparable to my own because he never went to prison. He never even got charged. I did 16 years, six months and 21 days, taken away from my 2-year-old son. … He can never compare to the pain I went through. And then I came home still fighting for other people.

"What has [Hunter] done? Have we even heard from him since he got the pardon? Did he even speak about it? Did he even thank his father about it? So, we can never compare a guy like that to me." 

Still, Tanner said he's not offended by Hunter Biden's pardon.

Trump’s Justice Department is reviewing the list of people granted pardons by former President Joe Biden in response to new concerns about Biden's use of an AutoPen to automatically sign documents and concerns about his state of mind in his final months in office, Fox News Digital previously reported

Tanner declined to comment on the investigation. 

The former boxer is focused on continuing to do community service and helping his 19-year-old nephew become a future boxing world champion. 

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