Former Rep. Pete King, while defending President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, told Newsmax that its tax cuts will expand the economy, despite the Congressional Budget Office and others using static numbers to report that the bill would raise the nation's deficit.
"They have a very myopic view," the New York Republican, appearing on Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend" with former Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., stated. "The fact is that whether it was under JFK, whether it was under Ronald Reagan, whether it was under Donald Trump back in 2017, the fact is, tax cuts do expand the economy."
Tax cuts, he added, cause growth and let small businesses prosper.
"That's why you have so many new jobs created under Reagan and so many new jobs were created under Trump the first time," King said.
Last week, the nonpartisan CBO released a revised estimate of the cost of Trump's tax-cut bill as passed by the House of Representatives, drawing a conclusion that the measure will add $2.4 trillion to the government's $36.2 trillion debt.
"These people who talk about the deficit growing, this will do more to cut into the deficit and it'll increase businesses and jobs," said King. "It's a win-win. And a lot of these senators take cheap shots in the bleachers. The fact is it's on the line right now. [Speaker] Mike Johnson got it through the House. There are only a few votes to spare. These guys shouldn't be playing games in the Senate. Just get it through."
Kingston noted that the White House is showing that it's back on the offensive while talking about the benefits of the bill, including on Medicaid.
"We have 2 million illegals getting American Medicaid," he said. "We have 3 to 4 million people who are getting Medicaid in two different states."
Also, adding a work requirement to Medicaid doesn't eliminate anyone who deserves to get help. "Common sense reforms like that are going to save billions and billions of dollars in this bill," Kingston said.
Kingston also defended Trump's decision to deploy National Guard troops to Los Angeles after two days of clashes between protesters and federal immigration agents.
"I'm glad the president's doing it properly, because if you don't, the protesters will continue to interfere with law enforcement and endanger innocent people," Kingston said. "The over 40 people that they arrested yesterday had criminal backgrounds, sex trafficking, trafficking, drugs, and multiple arrests. These were criminal aliens who are in the United States of America illegally to begin with, and they broke more laws. So they need to get out of here."
King, meanwhile, said Democrats are standing up for the protesters, much like during the George Floyd protests in 2020, and "we cannot allow this to go ahead."
"What the president is doing is necessary," he said. "We can't allow demonstrators and rioters in the streets to be attacking ICE and other law enforcement and trying to determine the policies of our country."
GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch NEWSMAX today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now
BEST OFFER:
Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight’s special series and President Trump’s comedy programs and much more!
Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!
Start your FREE trial now: NewsmaxPlus.com
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.