AV Urges Congress to ​“Do Both,” Address Unsustainable Debt Trajectory in Budget Resolutions

Budget Resolution Represents First Step on Long Road to Enacting Pro-Growth, Fiscally Responsible Tax Legislation

Washington, D.C. (February 12, 2025) – As the House and Senate Budget Committees begin to advance their respective versions of the fiscal year 2025 budget resolution, Arnold Ventures is highlighting the urgent need for Congress to ​“do both:” make permanent Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) provisions that make the tax code simpler, fairer, and more pro-growth, and do so without increasing the deficit by ending wasteful spending and closing tax loopholes.

“Adoption of a budget resolution is an important step forward in the process of enacting pro-growth, fiscally responsible tax legislation,” said George Callas, executive vice president of public finance at Arnold Ventures. ​“We commend Chairman Arrington’s stated commitments in support of a fiscally responsible approach and look forward to working with him and his committee members to bring that to fruition, though we are deeply concerned that the draft released today adds more than $3 trillion to an already unsustainable debt trajectory, accelerating a looming debt crisis. While Senate reconciliation instructions provide space for a large deficit increase, we appreciate Chairman Graham’s commitment to ensuring the final product does not add to our debt challenges, and we encourage the Senate to hold to that commitment when it drafts reconciliation legislation.”

Callas added, ​“We also don’t believe that Congress can assume away a crushing debt burden, whether through unrealistic economic growth projections or by simply decreeing that trillions of dollars of deficit increases don’t actually cost anything.” 

Arnold Ventures has outlined 20 priority reforms for Congress’s consideration, including both spending cuts and loophole closers, which add up to $4 trillion in savings. These solutions focus on eliminating waste, fraud, and inefficiencies across the federal government, and demonstrate that Congress need not achieve fiscal responsibility at the expense of the middle class.

With the release of draft budget resolutions in both chambers, the hard work of tax reform is only beginning.

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Arnold Ventures is a philanthropy that supports research to understand the root causes of America’s most persistent and pressing problems, as well as evidence-based solutions to address them. By focusing on systemic change, AV is working to improve the lives of American families, strengthen their communities, and promote their economic opportunity. Since Laura and John Arnold launched their foundation in 2008, the philanthropy has expanded, and Arnold Ventures’ focus areas include education, criminal justice, health, infrastructure, and public finance, advocating for bipartisan policy reforms that will lead to lasting, scalable change. The Arnolds became signatories of the Giving Pledge in 2011. 

Mike Ricci
202.384.8041
mike@​sevenletter.​com