WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joint Economic Committee Vice Chairman David Schweikert (AZ-01) joined CNBC’s Squawk Box today to discuss the Republican Response to the Economic Report of the President. Vice Chairman Schweikert highlighted how JEC Republicans are focused on promoting fiscally responsible policy solutions to reduce debt and deficits and improve the nation’s overall economic outlook.

Click here or on the image above to watch the interview.

On the 2024 Republican Response’s findings:

“There’s a reason so many people are angry in our society. I represent the Phoenix-Scottsdale area. If you don’t make well over 26% more, and that’s the mean, since President Biden took office, you're poorer. The math games have not been willing to accept that. We tried to do something much more intellectually honest in our response to the President's budget. We walked through tax policy, and what really would happen and the number of jobs and the economic growth and the fact that most of the tax cuts actually go to wages. We walked through the demographics, which is shocking more people don't talk about that, because that's not Republican nor Democrat.

“The fact of the matter is the U.S. debt right now is substantially driven by interest and the fact we're getting older. Then, we try to walk through actual solutions. […] Obesity in America right now may be the single biggest driver of growth of debt, and you actually walk back through the math, and you understand. You're looking at something that's potentially $9.1 trillion of spending over 10 years. Is that Republican or Democrat? It's an opportunity to do something moral, and that would be great economics and great for debt and deficits.”

On countering the Economic Report of the President:

“As you had [Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jared Bernstein] talking before, saying we’re going to tax this a couple hundred billion dollars more, when your baseline looks like you're going to be borrowing $2.5 trillion a year, that may be good theatrics for being on a television show, but it's crappy math. It's almost rounding errors.”

On the Left’s tax proposals falling well short of closing budget deficits:

“If you take a look at almost all the tax proposals coming from the Left, and you do their $400,000 adjustment, you might get 1.1% of GDP. For those of us who would like to reduce the size of government, if you just go to non-defense discretionary [spending]and cut there, you might get 1% of GDP. When you start saying here's 2.5% [of GDP] and you’re borrowing this year 7%-8% of the entire economy if you're not willing to do major policy. The solution actually is a tax code that maximizes economic growth and robustness, regulatory code, and now that you have AI and so many other things, you could have a revolution in how you do regulations, keeping society safe and healthy. But then the next step is, what are you willing to change policy wise?

“We often talk about health care because it's the primary driver [of debt and deficits] along with interest. But you will get an army of those – shockingly more from the bureaucracy – who are terrified of saying what would happen in society if you made us dramatically healthier? You’re having the fifth year in a row where prime-age males are dying younger. Fifteen years from now, this society will have more deaths than births. So, I like to think actually those of us on the Republican side, we built a report that offered actual moral and great economic solutions instead of the election-year rhetoric and math.”

On future generations being saddled with crushing debt:

“[We’re]looking at some math where if we continue what we're doing right now – in nine or ten budget years, 36% of all tax receipts, every tax receipt, goes just to pay interest. Look, it's demographics. We're crushing the next generation. I’m blessed. I have young kids. My children will be technically poorer than the generation before it, and it's math. We have almost doubled U.S. taxes in about 20-22 years just to maintain baseline spending.”