“Donald Trump returned to the White House promising to get the United States’ financial house in order by slashing the scope of the federal government, ending costly ‘forever wars’ and spurring economic growth to tame spiraling deficits,” Reuters reports.

“Instead, the national debt has surged past $40 trillion in the first 19 ​months of his second term. Federal spending has grown, not shrunk. The six-month-old Iran war has become an expensive stalemate. And the cost of servicing the U.S. debt, meanwhile, has grown as yields on some U.S. bonds ‌hit their highest levels in nearly two decades.”

“President Trump on Monday declared his support for federal tax credits to support film and television production in the U.S. which entertainment industry veterans say could boost a struggling industry that has lost huge amounts of business to foreign countries,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Deadline: Trump backs federal film & TV tax incentive: “Hollywood is a complete & total disaster!”

“It used to be that a new report of budgetary red ink would touch off a political crisis in Washington. There would be speeches and news conferences and blue-ribbon commissions and legislation and brinkmanship over how to get the nation’s fiscal house in order,” the New York Times reports.

“But when the national debt topped $40 trillion last week — that’s trillion with a T — the collective body politic all but shrugged. Never mind that the U.S. government now owes twice as much money as a share of the economy than two decades ago. Republicans and Democrats issued perfunctory, my-we’re-concerned statements and promptly moved on.”

“Vice President Vance said that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has a ‘very discreet plan’ to shrink the nation’s debt,” NewsNation reports.

Said Vance: “He has had a very discreet plan, of course, supported by the president of the United States, to get the United States to a point where our economy is growing faster than our debt.”

He adeed: “And if you look, we are on track. So, even though the debt is too high, even though we inherited this debt bomb from the Biden administration, we actually do have a plan to get the economy growing faster than the debt and that’s the most important thing.”

“The U.S. national debt is likely to surpass $40 trillion this week, months earlier than forecasters previously expected in part because of billions of dollars in lost revenue from President Donald Trump’s invalidated tariffs,” the Washington Post reports.

“Special tax carve-outs for everyday Americans are suddenly all the rage in Congress,” Politico reports.

“What began with President Donald Trump’s signature tax cuts has sprung copycats, with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle proposing breaks on virtually everything — from boat loan interest to selling New Jersey swag.”