Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has a “very discreet plan” to address the nation’s soaring debt by getting the U.S. economy to grow faster than the government’s debt burden.
Vance made the comments during an appearance on Newsmax’s “Carl Higbie Frontline,” arguing that the Trump administration is already making progress toward its goal despite the national debt reaching $40 trillion.
“He [Bessent] has had a very discreet plan, of course, supported by the president of the United States, to get the United States to a point where our economy is growing faster than our debt,” Vance said.
The vice president acknowledged that the debt remains too high while placing blame for the situation on the previous administration.
“And if you look, we are on track. So, even though the debt is too high, even though we inherited this debt bomb from the Biden administration, we actually do have a plan to get the economy growing faster than the debt and that’s the most important thing,” Vance added.
His remarks came the same day Bessent argued that the United States can effectively “grow” its way out of its massive national debt, which reached the $40 trillion mark on Wednesday.
Speaking with CNBC “Squawk on the Street” co-host Sara Eisen, Bessent downplayed the significance of the specific milestone while maintaining that economic growth could provide a path forward.
“There’s nothing magic about the $40 trillion number, and we can grow our way out of that,” Bessent said.
The Treasury secretary also pushed back against what he described as misinformation surrounding the federal deficit and its relationship to the size of the U.S. economy.
“But what we do want to signal is I think there’s been a lot of misinformation in terms of what’s going on with the deficit, what’s going on with the deficit to GDP,” Bessent said.
Bessent also pointed to tariff refunds stemming from a Supreme Court ruling in February against President Trump’s emergency tariffs as a temporary factor contributing to the debt.
He said U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer plans to implement “the same level of tariffs,” adding that he expects tariff revenue in 2026 to be approximately the same as it was in 2025.
The mounting national debt has increasingly drawn attention on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have raised concerns about Congress’s inability to adequately confront the problem.
Republicans have frequently pointed to federal spending and entitlement programs as major drivers of the debt.
Democrats, meanwhile, have emphasized increasing taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations, along with pursuing spending reforms, as ways to address the nation’s fiscal challenges.
Vance’s comments indicate the Trump administration is betting heavily on stronger economic growth as its strategy for confronting the massive debt burden, with the vice president maintaining that the administration is already “on track” toward having the economy expand faster than the debt.
