U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the nation’s economic growth can rise to 3 percent annually if taxes and regulations are cut.

The Treasury secretary spoke Thursday to a Senate committee in his first congressional testimony since he was confirmed in the new job. Mnuchin’s boss, Donald Trump, says tax and regulatory reform will boost the economy, and he made the promise of such changes a key part of his campaign for president.

Recently, annual economic growth has been at 2 percent or lower, and most economists say that is due to a large number of retirements by aging workers and meager productivity growth.

Trump’s efforts to change taxes have been moving slowly in Congress, where they face strong opposition from Democrats, and skepticism from some of his Republican allies who worry that cutting taxes will make government debt problems worse.
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