Scoop: White House promises to show its work on 3% GDP growth

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Axios

11 hours ago


In a closed-door meeting on Monday night, President Trump's top economic advisers promised GOP senators they would show their work on how they plan to deliver 3% GDP growth to help lower the cost of the "one big, beautiful bill."

Why it matters: The promise of a booming economy, even if it includes some shock therapy, is central to Trump's overall theory on how businesses and individuals can receive tax cuts while deficits simultaneously can be reduced.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett told Senate Finance Republicans last night they would share their plans later this week.

"They were just very optimistic about how much growth we're going to have moving forward, and how popular this plan is and how important it is for our economic health," a senator familiar with the discussions told us.

Some senators are willing to be persuaded that Trump can cut taxes and juice the economy like he did in his first term, but he has some work to do.

Zoom in: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is dealing with three GOP factions that are colliding over the Trump budget bill.

Debt hawks: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) expressed their concerns about the overall amount of deficit spending. Johnson wants to return to pre-pandemic spending, and Cassidy has been publicly saying that if a current policy baseline is used, Congress must pay for it. (Thune embraced a current policy approach today.)

Free traders want to know if the administration's rosy economic assumptions would include the expected impact of Trump's tariffs, which he's expected to announce tomorrow.

Medicaid defenders: Moderate Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and others like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) continue to question how deeply Trump and congressional Republicans want to cut Medicaid.

Between the lines: Trump officials are confident the real economy is faring much better than the equities market and they are optimistic that Friday's jobs report will show solid growth.

Economic forecasters don't seem convinced. They continue to warn about the dangers of the reciprocal tariffs that Trump will announce.

And the specter of stagflation — or the "S-word" as Axios' Neil Irwin calls it — is lurking.

Senate leadership is barreling forward without the parliamentarian and hoping to vote on the new budget resolution this week. But Thune reminded senators they still need to make sure they have 51 votes.

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2025/04/02/white-house-gdp-economic-growth

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[bucolic_frolic]

1. The theories and assumptions behind 3% GDP growth will be flawed but not questioned

Conjecture can be tweaked to mean anything. It's all one big speculative gamble thrown on the table to pass the tax cuts they want for themselves.

[C_U_L8R]

2. Consumers, Corps and Wall Street

...will not be dazzled by Trump's bullshit no matter what gyrations the GOP makes. We all know the bottom line and it's clear Trump is bad for business and people.

[wolfie001]

3. They omitted the negative in front of the 3

Will Maggie "Haggerman" even care?

[BumRushDaShow]

4. DUzy!

[Ray Bruns]

5. The Republican plan for 3% growth

[William Seger]

6. You don't stimulate the economy by giving more money to people who hoard it

Only idiots and liars would say so.

[twodogsbarking]

7. Figures don't lie unless the liars do the figures.