By Sarah Ferris - 04-05-16 12:37 PM EDT
Leading budget hawks are soundly rejecting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump s claim that he can eliminate more than $19 trillion of national debt in eight years.
That's ridiculous, former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who served as the top budget adviser to President George W. Bush, said during a panel hosted by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Daniels s comments were seconded by the founding director of the Congressional Budget Office, Alice Rivlin.
I ll tell you a secret: He can t do it, said Rivlin, who also led the White House Office of Management and Budget under President Bill Clinton.
Trump made the pledge in a Saturday interview with The Washington Post. When asked how he would achieve such a drastic reduction of the deficit, Trump said he wasn t looking at tax increases.
I don t think I ll need to [raise taxes]. The power is trade. Our deals are so bad, Trump said.
The same day, Trump s promise was called nonsensical by the Post s independent Fact Checker blog.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which is nonpartisan, has said that Trump s tax and economics plan would actually drive the deficit up to about $38 billion nearly double the current level.
Economists across the spectrum have scoffed at Trump s pledge. To slash $19 trillion from the federal deficit could require cutting the annual $4 trillion budget in half to pay off the country s debt holders.
Trump s pledge to eliminate the current debt also doesn t include the projected increase of nearly $6.8 trillion between 2017 and 2024.
This post was updated April 5 at 2:46 p.m.
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