Republicans who came to Congress to fight the deficit face attacks for raising it under Trump
Source: NBC News
Sept. 20, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT
WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Scott Perry, a past chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, has spent his 12-year career in Congress railing about the ballooning national debt and deficits — what he’s bemoaned as the “bankrupting of America.”
But after voting for President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” which is estimated to hike deficits by more than $4 trillion over the next decade, Perry finds himself playing defense on the issue of the skyrocketing national debt.
“He pretends he’s a fiscal conservative, but this is $4 trillion of new debt,” said his likely Democratic challenger, Janelle Stelson, a former local news anchor who is seeking a rematch against Perry in 2026. “I mean, the next generation is really going to struggle with this. We’re mortgaging our children’s future with that $4 trillion.”
Perry’s a “fraud,” Stelson added. “This is a really rotten vote that’s really going to hurt people.” Stelson is just one of a handful of Democratic candidates turning the tables on vulnerable Republicans this cycle on the issue of rising deficits — a campaign issue that helped propel House Republicans to power in the 2010 Tea Party wave and which the GOP has consistently returned to in more recent elections.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-came-congress-fight-deficit-face-attacks-raising-trump-rcna227533
J6 terrorist Perry (PA-10) almost lost to Stelson in 2024 so hopefully the 2nd time will be the charm!
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