WEDNESDAY: It's easy to report the GOP bill...

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2025 

...and Andrew Duehren has done it: It's been several decades since we declared that some reporter was, in fact, "the man."

Way back then, it was Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post. He went on to become that newspaper's long-standing Fact-Checker. 

On this very day, we're stunned by the clarity of a report in the New York Times. On the basis of that clear exposition, we're prepared to announce that Andrew Duehren, formerly of the Wall Street Journal, joins Kessler as "the man."

Duehren's report s deals with a pair of entities which are not the same thing. (Neither one is an "object.") We refer to the entities known as "deficit" and "debt." 

In the process, we're also referring to a distinct pair of terms which have come to be used almost interchangeably

The deficit isn't the debt! In fact, they're very different "abstract objects," though you'd have a hard time knowing that from the slapdash way the current GOP budget bill is being reported all over the mainstream press, cable news included.

What's the likely shape of the fiscal future if the GOP budget bill passes in something like its current form? In his new report for the Times, Duehren makes it look easy—which, just to be perfectly honest, it pretty much basically is:

Republican Policy Bill Would Add $2.4 Trillion to Debt, Budget Office Says

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that the broad Republican bill to cut taxes and slash some federal programs would add $2.4 trillion to the already soaring national debt over the next decade, in an analysis that was all but certain to inflame concerns that President Trump’s domestic agenda would lead to excessive government borrowing.

[...]

The United States government currently has roughly $29 trillion in public debt, and C.B.O. had previously forecast that it would grow by roughly $21 trillion over the next decade, reaching nearly $50 trillion in 2034, as a growing share of Americans take advantage of government retirement support. With a roughly $3.8 trillion tax cut at its core, the Republican bill had long been expected to significantly add to that debt and make a precarious situation worse.

We're not completely in love with that headline. But let's take a look at the text of Duehren's report:

Duehren is reporting basic numbers from the CBO. These involve the CBO's (imperfect) projections for "the next decade," a time frame he quickly reports.

In the second paragraph we have posted—the fourth paragraph of his report—Duehren offers the basic background information. This information is constantly being omitted in mainstream press reports. 

This is extremely basic information. It's amazingly easy to state. It should never be left out:

The United States government currently has roughly $29 trillion in public debt. The CBO has previously forecast that it would grow by roughly $21 trillion over the next decade, reaching nearly $50 trillion in 2034.

It isn't hard to report those facts. Those facts should never be left out. 

When the CBO estimates that provisions of the proposed budget bill will "add $2.4 trillion to the already soaring national debt," they're saying that it will add an additional $2.4 trillion to that presupposed $50 trillion in debt. That additional $2.4 trillion in debt will be added onto that presupposed $50 trillion.

Fo our money, Duehren could have spelled that last part out even more clearly. That said, a graphic between his first and second paragraphs makes this fandango remarkably clear, especially as judged by modern press corps standards.

Let's run through this again:

We already have a $29 trillion national debt. According to CBO projections, that will rise to $50 trillion by the year 2034.

The GOP bill in its current form would add an additional $2.4 trillion to that presupposed $50 trillion in debt. It isn't hard to lay this out. Our journalists infrequently do.

(As we noted last week, Paul Krugman has said that this situation is "unsustainable." We don't plan to argue with him!)

Here's the part you can't leave out if you're telling this story:

We already have a $29 trillion national debt. According to CBO projections, that will rise to $50 trillion by the year 2034, even if the GOP bill doesn't pass.

These journalists today! They omit that part of the tale all the time! Announcing himself to be "the man," Duehren gets it right!

For extra credit only: What would the Democrats propose with respect to those existing debt projections?

We haven't seen a word about that. Neither, we'll guess, have you.