'Costly': Economic expert warns $1 trillion at stake if Trump kills Biden's programs
A key economic expert laid bare the potentially devastating consequences to the U.S. economy if Donald Trump tries to unwind President Joe Biden's legislative accomplishments when he takes office.
"The White House announced today that the infrastructure bills passed during the Biden administration have spurred over $1 trillion in private sector investments," posted Steven Rattner, an MSNBC economic analyst and former adviser to the Obama administration on rescuing the auto industry. "If Trump tries to repeal these laws, the consequences would be costly."
Rattner referenced a Monday announcement from the White House that discussed the impact of a pair of bipartisan bills signed by Biden, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, along with the Democratic-backed health care and energy reform bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act.
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Together, said the statement, all of this legislation "has helped attract over $1 trillion in announced private-sector investments. These investments in industries of the future are ensuring the future is made in America, by American workers. And they’re creating opportunities in communities too often left behind."
While Trump hasn't outright said he will repeal any of these laws, and it's unclear whether he'd have the votes to do so, he may be in a position to at least hobble their implementation; his Treasury Secretary pick, Scott Bessent, has called the IRA a "doomsday machine for the budget" and may have some power to rewrite regulations around the law's tax giveaways for clean energy development.
All of this comes as economists sound the alarm over Trump's plan to enact mass deportation and draconian new tariffs across consumer markets, raising fears that higher inflation, only recently stabilized, could come roaring back.