GOP fears Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ is ‘debt bomb’

The fiscal impact of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which one prominent budget hawk called a “debt bomb,” is becoming a significant political concern among Republican lawmakers who have made little progress toward offsetting the $3 trillion projected cost of the legislation.

Some GOP senators fear that the bill’s failure to rein in federal spending in a substantial way over the next decade is fueling jitters in the bond market, where soft demand for U.S. debt has caused yields to climb in recent weeks.

And they worry that if Republicans pass Trump’s bill on party-line votes in both chambers, they will get blamed for heaping trillions of dollars onto the debt and the economic consequences that may follow in the future.

“I think we’re having trouble selling our long bonds already,” warned Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who cited the rising interest rates.

Scott is one of at least four Senate Republican conservatives who are sounding the alarm over the long-term fiscal implications of the 1,116-page budget reconciliation bill that passed the House.