By ERIC TUCKER and JAKE OFFENHARTZ, Associated Press

By LISA MASCARO, AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s big bill making its way through Congress will cut taxes by $3.75 trillion but also increase deficits by $2.4 trillion over the next decade, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO also estimates an increase of 10.9 million people without health insurance under the bill by 2034, including 1.4 million who are in the country without legal status in state-funded programs.

The package would reduce federal outlays, or spending, by nearly $1.3 trillion over that period, the budget office said.

“Republicans cry crocodile tears over the debt when Democrats are in charge — but explode it when they’re in power,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.

“In the words of Elon Musk,” Boyle said, reviving the billionaire and former Trump aide’s criticism of the package, “this bill is a ‘disgusting abomination.’”

The analysis comes at a crucial moment in the legislative process as Trump is pushing Congress to have the final product on his desk to sign into law by Fourth of July. The work of the CBO, which for decades has served as the official scorekeeper of legislation in Congress, will be weighed by lawmakers and others seeking to understand the budgetary impacts of the sprawling 1,000-page plus package.

Ahead of CBO’s release, the White House and Republican leaders criticized the budget office in a pre-emptive campaign designed to sow doubt in its findings.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said CBO has been “historically wrong” and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the CBO was “flat wrong” because it underestimated the potential revenue from Trump’s first round of tax breaks in 2017. The CBO last year said receipts were $1.5 trillion or 5.6% greater than predicted, in large part because of the “burst of inflation” during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

Leavitt also suggested that CBO’s employees are biased, even though certain budget office workers face strict ethical rules — including restrictions on campaign donations and political activity — to ensure objectivity and impartiality.

Alongside the costs of the bill, the CBO had previously estimated that 8.6 million people would no longer have health care and 4 million fewer would have food stamps each month due to the legislation’s proposed changes to Medicaid and other programs.

The bill, called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” after the president’s own catch phrase, is grinding its way through Congress, as the top priority of Republicans, who control both the House and Senate — and face stiff opposition from Democrats at every step in the process.

Democrats call it Trump’s “big, ugly bill.”

Related Articles

Iran’s supreme leader criticizes US proposal in nuclear talks but doesn’t reject the idea of a deal

US and Europe trade negotiators discuss tariffs in Paris

Mexican girl is granted humanitarian parole to continue receiving lifesaving care in US, lawyers say

Federal lawsuit accusing Peter Navarro of using unofficial email account dropped

Trump asks Congress to claw back billions in approved spending targeted by DOGE

All told, the package seeks to extend the individual income tax breaks that had been approved in 2017, but will expire in December if Congress fails to act, while adding new ones, including no taxes on tips. It also includes a massive buildup of $350 billion for border security, deportations and national security.

To help cover the lost revenue, Republicans want to slash some federal spending. They propose phasing out green energy tax breaks put in place during Democrat Joe Biden’s presidency. New work requirements for some adults up to age 65 on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, would begin in December 2026 and is expected to result in less spending on those programs.

The package also would provide a $4 trillion increase to the nation’s debt limit, which is now $36 trillion, to allow more borrowing. The Treasury projects the debt limit will need to be raised this summer to pay the nation’s already accrued bills.

Now in its 50th year, the CBO was established by law after Congress sought to assert its control, as outlined in the constitution, over the budget process, in part by setting up the new office as an alternative to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

Staffed by some 275 economists, analysts and other employees, the CBO says it seeks to provide the Congress with objective, impartial information about budgetary and economic issues.

Its current director, Phillip Swagel, a former Treasury Department official in Republican President George W. Bush’s administration, was reappointed to a four-year term in 2023.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Senior officials from almost 50 nations gathered Wednesday to drum up more weapons and ammunition for Ukraine, with the Pentagon’s chief absent for the first time since the group organizing the military aid was set up three years ago.

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at NATO headquarters is going to be chaired by the United Kingdom and Germany. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would only arrive in Brussels after it’s over. He will participate in a meeting of NATO defense ministers on Thursday.

Related Articles

Iran’s supreme leader criticizes US proposal in nuclear talks but doesn’t reject the idea of a deal

Today in History: June 4, the Tiananmen Square Massacre

Spanish government says housing market is not a ‘free for all’ after recent crackdown on Airbnb

Outspoken liberal leader Lee elected South Korea’s president, capping months of political turmoil

What made Mount Etna’s latest eruption so rare

His absence is the latest in a series of steps that Washington has taken to distance itself from Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022.

More than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, according to U.N. estimates, as well as tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides.

Before Wednesday’s meeting, the U.K. said that it plans a tenfold increase in drone production to help Ukraine. Drones have become a decisive factor in the war, now in its fourth year.

U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said that British companies are using lessons learned from the battlefield “to develop advanced new drones to help protect Ukraine’s civilians and also strengthen our own national security.”

Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, created the group after Russia launched all-out war on Ukraine in 2022. Since then, Ukraine’s backers have collectively provided around $126 billion in weapons and military assistance, including more than $66.5 billion from the U.S.

The United States hasn’t chaired a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group since the Trump administration took office in January.

European NATO allies are concerned that the U.S. might withdraw troops from Europe to focus on the Indo-Pacific. French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that abandoning Ukraine would erode U.S. credibility in deterring any conflict with China over Taiwan.

By WAFAA SHURAFA, Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli- and U.S.-backed group paused food delivery at its three distribution sites in the Gaza Strip after health officials said dozens of Palestinians were killed in a series of shootings near the sites this week. Israeli strikes across the territory, meanwhile, killed 26 people overnight and into Wednesday, officials said.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it was in discussions with the Israeli military on better guiding foot traffic near the distribution hubs and enhancing military training procedures to promote safety.

The move came a day after Israeli forces acknowledged opening fire as people headed toward a GHF site in the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah, a military zone off limits to independent media.

Related Articles

Iran’s supreme leader criticizes US proposal in nuclear talks but doesn’t reject the idea of a deal

Today in History: June 4, the Tiananmen Square Massacre

Spanish government says housing market is not a ‘free for all’ after recent crackdown on Airbnb

Outspoken liberal leader Lee elected South Korea’s president, capping months of political turmoil

What made Mount Etna’s latest eruption so rare

Gaza health officials, the Red Cross and the U.N. rights office said 27 people were killed on Tuesday, and witnesses blamed Israeli forces. Israel’s military said it fired near people it described as suspects who it said approached its forces and ignored warning shots. It says it is looking into reports of casualties.

At least 80 people have been killed since the sites opened last week, according to hospital officials, including dozens in similar shootings at roughly the same location on Sunday and Monday, when the military also said it had fired warning shots.

GHF says there has been no violence in the aid sites themselves but has acknowledged the potential dangers people face when traveling to them on foot. Thousands of Palestinians walk to the sites early each morning, desperate for food and hoping to beat the crowds, and pass near Israeli forces in the predawn darkness.

GHF said it asked the Israeli military, which is sometimes referred to as the IDF, to “introduce measures that guide foot traffic in a way that minimizes confusion or escalation risks near IDF military perimeters; develop clearer IDF-issued guidance to help the population transit safely; enhance IDF force training and refine internal IDF procedures to support safety.”

In a separate development, Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 26 people, according to hospital officials. One of the strikes hit a tent in Gaza City, killing seven people, including two women and a 7-year-old girl, according to Shifa Hospital.

The military said it was looking into the reports. Israel says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because the group is entrenched in populated areas.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

A controversial new aid system

Israel and the United States say they supported the establishment of the new aid system to prevent Hamas from stealing aid and selling it to finance its activities. Israel has not claimed that Hamas fired in the area of the GHF sites.

The United Nations, which operates a longstanding aid system that can deliver to hundreds of locations across the territory, denies there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas, saying it has mechanisms to prevent that.

The U.N. has refused to take part in the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to control who gets aid and by forcing Palestinians to travel to just three distribution hubs, two of which are in the southernmost city of Rafah.

Israel imposed a complete ban on food and other imports for 2 1/2 months before easing the restrictions in May. U.N. agencies say lingering restrictions, the breakdown of law and order inside Gaza, and widespread looting have made it difficult to deliver assistance.

Experts warned earlier this year that Gaza is at risk of famine if Israel does not lift its blockade and stop the military campaign it renewed in March, when it shattered a ceasefire with Hamas.

The war began when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s military campaign has killed over 54,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.

The ministry is led by medical professionals but reports to the Hamas-run government. Its toll is seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts, though Israel has challenged its numbers. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The offensive has destroyed vast areas, displaced around 90% of the population, and left people almost completely reliant on international aid.