Trump Admin Pushes Back Against Grim Deficit Report: 'The Optimists Are Going to Be Right'

WASHINGTON – The US deficit is set to hit $897 billion this year, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office. That's up $118 billion over last year's deficit.

The report also predicts a slowing economy, with growth at 2.3 percent – that's down from 3.1 percent last year.

However, Larry Kudlow, Trump's top economic adviser, disagrees with the findings. Speaking at Monday's White House briefing, he told reporters the CBO is underestimating the strength of the US economy and its ability to shrink the deficit.

"We have a fundamental disagreement with that agency regarding growth outlook. In the first two years of the Trump administration, our view has been correct and their pessimistic view has not been correct," said Kudlow, who serves as director of the National Economic Council.

Kudlow also contends that, contrary to the findings of the CBO report, the government shutdown has not had a significant impact on the economy overall.

"We frequently disagree with CBO with all respect," he said. "They're doing the best job they can – I get that... You know, in a $20 trillion economy, it's awfully hard to make even the best guesstimates of those kinds of small fractions of numbers."

While he acknowledges "individual hardship cases," he maintains that from a macro perspective, the economy is still in good shape.

"Based on things we've talked about here — unemployment claims, low; industrial production, strong; business investment, strong; holiday sales, very strong — I still think we're on a 3 percent trend line growth rate, and I'm proud of that," Kudlow told reporters.

"I think that the program of lower tax rates, and regulatory rollback, and opening up energy and so forth is working and is continuing to work," he continued. "And I think, frankly, the optimists... are going to be right."