Here’s why the cost of extending Trump’s tax cuts just surged by nearly $1 trillion

If Congress doesn't act quickly to extend the provisions in President-elect Donald Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, it could blow an even bigger hole in the federal budget.

That's according to Politico, which reported that the U.S. Treasury Department just pegged its estimate for the total 10-year cost of extending the tax cuts (which overwhelmingly benefit the richest Americans) at $5.5 trillion. That's a significantly higher number than the $4.6 trillion estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.