Congress

US debt forecast to hit $64T in a decade as Trump policies widen deficit

Published

9 months ago

February 11, 2026

The U.S. national debt is on track to reach $64 trillion within a decade as the federal government continues its trend of red-ink balances under President Donald Trump and Republican control of Congress.

The Congressional Budget Office released its marquee report Wednesday on the U.S. fiscal outlook, estimating that the tax and spending package Republicans enacted last summer — along with Trump’s immigration policies — will increase deficits by trillions of dollars over the next decade. That budget gap would essentially cancel out the roughly $3 trillion in deficit reduction Trump’s tariffs are expected to produce.

Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper predicts that the U.S. will run a $1.9 trillion deficit during the current fiscal year as the national debt currently exceeds $38 trillion. The annual deficit is then forecast to grow to $3.1 trillion by 2036.

Growing interest costs and spending on safety-net programs drives the expanding gap between how much money flows into federal coffers each year and how much is doled out.

Debt compared to economic output is also on track to soar in the coming years. CBO predicts that federal debt held by the public will rise from 101 percent of gross domestic product this year to 120 percent in a decade, exceeding the previous high of 106 percent of GDP in 1946.

As the CBO predicted last summer, the Republican megabill Trump signed into law in July will help boost economic growth this year. But that will be partially offset by the economic effects of Trump’s tariffs and increased immigration enforcement.

Congress

Chris Murphy released from hospital after stroke

Published

57 minutes ago

November 6, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Chris Murphy announced Friday that he has been released from the hospital after suffering a stroke last week, but will miss “several weeks” of Senate votes while he continues to recover.

“The doctors are very encouraged by the progress I’ve made so far,” the Connecticut Democrat said in a statement. “In order to take my recovery seriously and get back to work on the quickest timeline possible, I will be spending several weeks at a rehabilitation center after being discharged from the hospital today.”

He added that he remains in touch remotely with his staff and colleagues.

Murphy, who was hospitalized last weekend, said Friday that he was “diagnosed with a small bleed in the thalamus region of my brain.” Jose Suarez, the Chief of Neurosciences Critical Care at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, said in a separate statement released by Murphy’s office that the senator “experienced a small hemorrhagic stroke.”

“He has shown tremendous progress, and at the current rate of improvement, we expect that he will make a full recovery following rehabilitation,” Suarez added.

Murphy is the latest senator to suffer a stroke in recent years. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) were both hospitalized for strokes in 2022. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), at that time a Senate candidate, also had a stroke in 2022 that he later described as near fatal.

Congress

Congressional Progressive Caucus chair lays out strategy to ‘wield our power’

Published

1 hour ago

November 6, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said his group will still be power brokers in a massive Democratic majority in a strategy memo previewing plans for next term.

“While some in the press have speculated that a majority of this size undermines our influence within the caucus, they have it exactly backwards,” Rep. Greg Casar of Texas said in the Friday memo obtained by Blue Light News. “Big majorities are good for getting big things done. Our goal is not to win a battle against other Democratic caucuses. It is to pass longstanding progressive priorities that bring down costs, root out corruption, and boost wages.”

The CPC will have at least 105 members next term, according to the memo. If Democrats had a narrow majority, progressives — and any other faction in the caucus — could have used their votes as leverage. Now that presumptive speaker Hakeem Jeffries will have as many 30 votes to spare, Democrats broadly are recalibrating their approach next term.

Casar laid out a “three-pronged” strategy for the CPC to “wield our power” in the three-page memo — tackling legislation, oversight and “holding Donald Trump to his word on populist economic policies.”

“Small majorities give corporate special interest groups the ability to block popular populist policies by recruiting a small number of opponents; a big majority gives us the advantage,” he said.

Casar previewed how the CPC can engage with Trump, noting that “one of the few bright spots for bipartisan lawmaking” was a housing bill that banned private equity firms from buying homes. He noted the caucus should push Trump to cap credit card interest rates, lower credit card fees for small businesses and lower prescription drug costs.

“While we oppose [Trump] strongly on the vast majority of fronts, we should send bills to his desk that would lower prices and raise paychecks. If he signs them, good. If he vetoes those bills, that will propel us to a continued Democratic majority and a trifecta where a Democratic president can sign these proposals into law,” he said.

Casar also outlined oversight targets beyond the administration, urging Democrats to specifically investigate corporations that use customer data for “surveillance pricing,” health care companies that are “taking advantage of seniors” through the Medicare Advantage program and artificial intelligence labs who are “putting jobs and lives at risk.”

“By focusing not just on the Trump administration but also on big corporations and billionaires, we will show the American people we are not just anti-Trump but also pro-worker and pro-consumer,” he said.