White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is facing backlash after making what one legal expert called a “completely made-up” claim while defending President Donald Trump’s controversial One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) against criticism from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The nonpartisan CBO recently released a preliminary report estimating that the bill would add $2.3 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade, even as it slashes government spending. During a press briefing, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins pressed Leavitt on the discrepancy.
“You said recently that it is, quote, ‘blatantly wrong’ to say that it adds to the deficit,” Collins noted. “But Republicans like Ron Johnson and Rand Paul disagree; they say the bill will add to the deficit. That is their concern. Is it the White House’s position that those two Republican senators are, quote, ‘blatantly wrong?’”
“It is,” Leavitt replied. She went on to dismiss the CBO’s projections, claiming the office had also erred in its analysis of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. In reality, post-2017 deficits turned out to be even worse than CBO predictions. Leavitt also alleged that the CBO’s credibility is compromised by political bias, stating, “There hasn’t been a single staffer in the entire CBO that has contributed to a Republican since 2000.”
That assertion, however, was quickly debunked. “This is just completely made up?” wrote immigration attorney and policy analyst Aaron Reichlin-Melnick on X (formerly Twitter). “Anyone can go to OpenSecrets and see in a matter of moments that the literal Director of the CBO, a former Bush appointee appointed in a bipartisan fashion, donated to a Republican candidate in 2014.”
He included a screenshot of the campaign finance disclosure as evidence. While the White House maintains that OBBBA will reduce the deficit long-term, doubts persist across party lines. Prominent Republicans such as Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul have expressed skepticism. Even longtime Trump supporter and billionaire Elon Musk called the bill a “disgusting abomination” on Tuesday, joining a growing chorus of opposition.
The CBO, created to provide Congress with objective, nonpartisan analysis of economic and budgetary decisions, rarely becomes the target of political attacks. However, Leavitt’s statements have reignited debate over the role of facts and expertise in shaping public policy. As the Senate prepares to review the bill, scrutiny over its economic impact — and the administration’s response to independent analysis is only expected to intensify.