JP Morgan CEO and Chairman Jamie Dimon urged Senate Republicans on Monday to pass President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
Dimon said on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria” that he is “thrilled” about the massive spending package passing in the House on May 22, which extends expiring provisions of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and devotes more than $100 billion in new funding for border security. As some Senate Republicans have sounded the alarm on the bill, Dimon argued that Republicans should pass it to help businesses and spur economic growth.
“First of all, I’m thrilled they got [the bill] through and I think [House Speaker Mike] Johnson did an unbelievable job doing that. I think they should finish it. I think increasing consistency, keeping the tax rates going that allow businesses to invest, [from] small businesses to large businesses, is really important for growth,” Dimon said. “And if you go back to the bill in 2017, it brought back trillions of dollars to the United States, it created a lot of jobs, a lot of growth, and people will look at those numbers and they don’t accurately say what those are. So it will work, then they should go back and worry about cutting [spending].”
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Senate Republicans have threatened to make major changes to the bill over their concerns about the deficit and federal spending. Dimon said Congress should focus on making Medicare, Social Security and other federal programs more efficient once they pass the legislation.
“I think they’re better off just getting this thing finished as best they can, the smaller the deficit is, the better,” Dimon said.
Trump gave Senate Republicans the go-ahead on May 26 to make major changes to the bill, even after House Speaker Mike Johnson tried to persuade the Senate not to make significant edits. Two House Republicans, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio, voted against the bill over their concerns about the deficit.
Republican Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah have all come out against the legislation in its present form, saying that it currently fails to address excessive government spending. Paul said during a Sunday appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that he will likely support the bill if a provision on raising the debt ceiling is removed.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a May 22 briefing that Trump intends to primary Massie and Davidson for opposing the bill.
The package provides $46.5 billion to revive construction of the border wall, $4.1 billion to hire Border Patrol agents and an additional $1,000 fee for those filing to seek asylum. It also plans to implement a $3.8 trillion tax cut and eliminate policies that tax overtime and tips.
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