{"id":920265,"date":"2026-07-16T15:12:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/scott-bessents-3-deficit-target-looks-increasingly-out-of-reach-fox-news-analysis-suggests\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T15:12:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:12:53","slug":"scott-bessents-3-deficit-target-looks-increasingly-out-of-reach-fox-news-analysis-suggests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/scott-bessents-3-deficit-target-looks-increasingly-out-of-reach-fox-news-analysis-suggests\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Bessent\u2019s 3% deficit target looks increasingly out of reach, Fox News analysis suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent set a bold fiscal target when he unveiled his \u201c3-3-3\u201d plan: cut the federal deficit to 3% of GDP by the time President Trump\u2019s term ends in 2028.<\/p>\n<h2>The plan vs. reality<\/h2>\n<p>Bessent\u2019s \u201c3-3-3\u201d framework targets three goals pegged to the number three: reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP, grow the economy at 3% annually, and boost domestic oil production by 3 million barrels per day.<\/p>\n<p>The US deficit sat at roughly 6.4% to 6.5% of GDP in 2024. Getting from there to 3% would require cutting the deficit roughly in half in about four years.<\/p>\n<p>Bessent has pointed to recent progress as evidence the plan is working. The deficit-to-GDP ratio has reportedly declined from 6.5% to 5.9%.<\/p>\n<h2>The reconciliation bill problem<\/h2>\n<p>The House reconciliation bill currently making its way through the legislative process is projected to increase deficits to approximately 7% of GDP by fiscal year 2027, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.<\/p>\n<p>The Center for American Progress has similarly warned that current legislative actions make the 3% target increasingly difficult to achieve without significant spending cuts or tax increases that aren\u2019t currently on the table.<\/p>\n<p>Bessent has cited potential recoveries from fraud and waste of up to $500 billion annually as a key fiscal strategy.<\/p>\n<h2>What Bessent is banking on<\/h2>\n<p>The Treasury Secretary\u2019s argument rests on a combination of factors: economic growth generating higher tax revenues, energy production boosting the economy, and aggressive cost-cutting across the federal government reducing outlays.<\/p>\n<p>If the economy genuinely hits a sustained 3% annual growth rate, the math gets easier. Higher GDP means a bigger denominator in the deficit-to-GDP ratio, which mechanically brings the percentage down even without dramatic spending cuts.<\/p>\n<p>The oil production target would require increasing output by 3 million barrels per day, representing a substantial expansion of domestic energy capacity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Disclosure:<\/strong> This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptobriefing.com\/editorial-policy\/\">Editorial Policy<\/a>.\n                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptobriefing.com\/bessent-deficit-reduction-goal-unlikely\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Editorial Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent set a bold fiscal target when he unveiled his \u201c3-3-3\u201d plan: cut the federal deficit to 3% of GDP by the time President Trump\u2019s term ends in 2028. The plan vs. reality Bessent\u2019s \u201c3-3-3\u201d framework targets three goals pegged to the number three: reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP, grow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":920266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151050,596],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-920265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bessents","category-scott"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/920266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}