Bessent backs 3% deficit goal despite 5% budget forecasts

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pledged in two congressional hearings this week to cut the federal deficit to 3% of GDP, a target the government’s own budget projections do not currently support.

Bessent repeated the goal before both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, telling lawmakers the administration could achieve “something with a three in front of it” by the end of President Donald Trump’s term.

The administration’s fiscal 2027 budget, however, projects deficits above 5% of GDP through 2029.

The Congressional Budget Office projected in February that the federal deficit will reach $1.9 trillion, or 5.8% of GDP, in fiscal year 2026 – and will not fall below 5.6% of GDP at any point over the next decade. Debt held by the public reached 101% of GDP, the highest level since World War II. Bessent told the House committee the deficit had fallen to 5.5% of GDP, a figure that Treasury has not publicly reconciled with CBO’s 5.8% projection for fiscal year 2026. ...