GOP senator on potential additional tax cuts: ‘We can’t go further into debt’

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) expressed ambivalence Sunday about the prospect of a second round of tax cuts, arguing it can’t add to the national debt. 

“We’ve got to make sure that it’s at least supported by facts around dynamic growth. It has to pay for itself. We can’t go further in debt,” Tillis said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“We’ve got to get the American people to recognize that we have a powder keg of dynamite in a debt that’s continuing to grow,” he added.

{mosads}Tillis’ comments came a day after President Trump told reporters in Nevada that his administration and congressional Republicans were looking into legislation that would provide a “very major tax cut for middle income people.”

The president suggested such a bill could be put forth and executed “sometime just prior to November,” though Congress will not reconvene until after the Nov. 6 midterms.

Tillis on Sunday voiced concerns about legislation that would add to the already ballooning national debt, noting that he voted against the most recent spending bill.

While opponents of the GOP tax cut bill passed last December argued that the legislation would add to the debt, Tillis maintained that the initial round of tax cuts will pay for itself over time. He acknowledged it would not retire any existing debt, however.

WATCH: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) tells Chuck Todd that the government needs to make “tough choices so that we can balance our books.” #MTP@ThomTillis: “We’ve got to get the American people to recognize that we have a powder keg of dynamite in a debt that’s continuing to grow.” pic.twitter.com/7cs1lDPKW4

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 21, 2018

An August report from the Congressional Budget Office showed that the federal deficit jumped 20 percent in the first 10 months of the 2018 fiscal year, in large part because of the Republican-backed tax cuts.