Speaker Johnson Defends GOP Budget Plan, Predicts “Historic Growth”

WASHINGTON (VINnews) — House Speaker Mike Johnson is touting the Republican-led budget deal as a landmark achievement, citing “tremendous and historic levels of spending cuts” and predicting robust economic expansion in the years ahead.

Speaking on Meet the Press, Johnson pushed back on criticism from fiscal analysts and nonpartisan agencies, particularly the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which projects sluggish growth under the GOP-backed legislation.

“A lot of the analysis that people are pointing to is from groups like the Congressional Budget Office,” Johnson said. “They have projected anemic economic growth. They’re assuming a growth level of 1.8% over the next 10 years.”

He argued those projections underestimate the potential of Republican economic policies. “Never in U.S. history has the U.S. economy sustained less than 2% economic growth over a 10-year period,” he said. “What’s going to happen here is exactly the opposite. We’re going to have historic growth because we’re basing this on the history of the recent past.”

Johnson pointed to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act under President Donald Trump as a model, claiming that the CBO underestimated the economic benefits of those tax cuts by $1.5 trillion. “They underestimated the incredible growth that would be brought about — this is going to be jet fuel,” he said.

The bill, dubbed “The Big Beautiful Bill” by GOP leaders, includes sweeping cuts to discretionary spending and significant changes to federal programs. .

The CBO and other analysts continue to caution that long-term projections must account for inflation, demographic shifts, and global economic uncertainty. Nonetheless, Johnson remains confident in what he calls a return to “pro-growth” fundamentals.

The legislation now heads to the Senate, where its future remains uncertain amid bipartisan concerns.