Official Washington doubts Trump's 3 percent growth target

On the same day that the Trump administration boldly reasserted that it would achieve 3 percent economic growth through "MAGAnomics," official Washington naysayed that lofty goal.

"We are promoting MAGAnomics — and that means sustained 3 percent economic growth," Trump Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney wrote in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal Thursday. MAGAnomics, of course, is a portmanteau combining the president's catchphrase "Make America Great Again" with "economics."

Mere hours later, though, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen pooh-poohed the idea of raising annual gross domestic product growth to 3 percent.

"I think it's something that would be wonderful if you could accomplish it, I'd love to see it, I think it's challenging," the central banker said during a Senate hearing.

The gross domestic product grew at a 1.4 percent annual rate in the first quarter of this year. Fed officials see that accelerating, but only to 2.2 percent this year. In the long run, they expect it to settle in around 1.8 percent on average.