Our long-term 3% growth outlook will pay for the tax cuts

On a separate issue, Mnuchin said rising economic growth will help pay for a temporary shortfall in tax receipts.

“We’re now at a point where we’re comfortably within our 3 percent or higher sustained economic growth,” he said. “The difference between 2.2 and 3 percent will pay for the tax cuts.”

Congress passed a White House-backed bill in December 2017 that slashed the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent and rolled back rates for millions of Americans.

Critics say it will blow a hole in the federal budget, and the Congressional Budget Office last week said the deficit will reach $1 trillion by 2020.

However, Mnuchin and other administration officials maintain that while tax receipts may be slow at first, the accelerated pace of growth will more than make up for the difference.

“We’re seeing very strong economic growth,” he said. “We literally have met with hundreds of executives, small companies, big companies, and thousands of workers. We’re beginning to see the impact of the tax cuts, specifically people investing large amounts of money back into the United States.”