Socialist Leader Rejects Staggering Cost Estimate, Refuses to Give Her Own Number
Andrew Powell · Nov 5, 2026 · 2 min read
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) national co-chair Megan Romer faced questions about the price of her organization's ambitious policy agenda after DSA-backed candidates made major gains in the midterm elections.
During an appearance on Fox News' "The Story," Romer was challenged over a White House estimate that implementing the group's proposals, including Medicare for All and student debt cancellation, could cost taxpayers approximately $49 trillion.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) calculated that the proposals would amount to roughly $355,000 per American household over the next decade. Romer dismissed the figures as "outrageous," accusing the administration of producing numbers intended to make the organization look bad.
"The White House, who does not like us very much, managed to come up with some math that made us look bad," Romer told host Martha MacCallum. "But we don't agree with these numbers."
However, when MacCallum pressed her to provide an alternative estimate, Romer declined to put a figure on the potential cost of the DSA's agenda.
She argued that expenses would fluctuate depending on which proposals lawmakers could implement and which existing government programs they would replace.
"There's no, like, one, solid number because it depends on what pieces we can build in the meantime," Romer said.
"I'm not going to give you a solid number. That's not what I'm here to do," she added, arguing that Americans should collectively decide how their tax dollars are spent.
Romer also took aim at U.S. military spending, arguing that money currently devoted to overseas military operations could instead fund the organization's priorities.
Among the proposals she defended were amnesty for illegal immigrants and abolishing the Senate.
"We don't believe in having 800 U.S. military bases around the world," Romer said, describing the spending as excessive and arguing that defense contractors and wealthy business interests benefit from it.
MacCallum pushed back, contrasting the estimated $961 billion U.S. defense budget with the CEA's projected $47 trillion cost for the DSA's proposals.
Romer has previously defended other sweeping changes to the federal government. In a July Fox News interview, she expressed support for abolishing the Senate, replacing the presidency and Supreme Court, eliminating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and ending border restrictions.
On Wednesday, she maintained that expanding government-funded health care would be less expensive than current military expenditures.
"We do agree that it will cost money to provide healthcare to everyone, but it will cost less money than we spend on the military and on these illegal wars right now," Romer said.