Thursday, July 3, 2025 — Leadership Now Project released the following statement after Congress advanced the budget reconciliation bill, securing only the support of Republican lawmakers.

“While framed as pro-growth, the budget reconciliation bill passed on partisan lines undermines U.S. competitiveness. It weakens fiscal discipline, destabilizes critical investment, and imposes short-sighted policies that threaten the long-term foundations of American economic leadership. The Penn Wharton Budget model projects that the bill would reduce GDP and wages by 0.3% and increase the federal debt by 7.6% over ten years—highlighting its failure to promote growth while significantly expanding deficits.

“The bill weakens America’s investment climate and innovation edge. Provisions rolling back clean energy incentives impose cumbersome new rules, needlessly undermining the investments needed to power American homes and fuel AI innovation. They also undermine the credibility of government investment incentives.

“In healthcare, the bill burdens states with costly new regulation, under the guise of entitlement reform. Experience shows that the proposed work requirement regimes are ineffective, burdensome, and needlessly harm Americans with little budgetary impact. Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office suggest they will lead to nearly 12 million people losing their health insurance.

“As business leaders, we seek sound, stable policy—on taxes, energy, healthcare, and innovation—that strengthens America’s long-term competitiveness. This is a difficult task that requires serious trade-offs and bipartisan compromise. This bill, unfortunately, fails to deliver.”