Trump’s fiscal clean-up job won’t be easy

President Trump was sworn in amid much fanfare and celebration, and got straight to work on Monday. He started with a hiring freeze for federal workers and a regulatory freeze as part of a slew of executive orders, but taming the U.S. fiscal situation may prove more challenging. 

“The biggest headwind is probably the massive debt and the very, very bloated budget, a lot of which contains spending. It’s money that hasn’t actually been spent at this point but is still slated to go out the door. You know, promises of future spending. So that’s going to be very, very problematic,” EJ Antoni, research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told FOX Business before Trump took office. 

U.S. President Donald Trump sings a second executive order during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of his second presidential term, in Washington, U.S. January 20, 2025.  (REUTERS/Carlos Barria / Reuters)

The national debt – which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors – is sitting above $36 trillion and growing, as tracked by the U.S. Treasury Department. 

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S KEY FISCAL DEADLINES

As for the budget, last Friday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its latest 10-year budget and economic outlook that showed the federal government is on track to break a debt record set nearly 80 years ago.

MELANIA TRUMP STUNS IN AMERICAN DESIGNERS

“From 2025 to 2035, debt rises as increases in spending on Social Security, Medicare and interest payments outpace growth in revenues,” CBO Director Phillip Swagel told reporters.

The federal government is projected to run a $1.9 trillion budget deficit in fiscal year 2025. The deficit is projected to briefly decline in the next two years before resuming its rise. The short-lived drop is tied to the expiration of portions of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which expires at the end of this year. However, Trump’s treasury pick, Scott Bessent, is vowing not to let that happen. Bessent is expected to sail through the confirmation process.

SCOTT BESSENT VOWS TO MAKE 2017 TAX CUTS PERMANENT

Scott Bessent, President Trump’s nominee to be treasury secretary, testifies during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing in Dirksen building on Thursday, January 16, 2025.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“We must make permanent the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and implement new pro-growth policies to reduce the tax burden on American manufacturers, service workers and seniors,” Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee at his confirmation hearing. “President Trump was the first president in modern times to recognize the need to change our trade policy and stand up for American workers.”

US President Donald Trump reviews the troops during his Inauguration ceremony in Emancipation Hall of the US…