Biden says midterms not ‘referendum’ on him, claims deficit cut credit
President Biden insisted Friday that the Nov. 8 midterm elections aren’t a “referendum” on him while touting “a record decrease” in the federal deficit — despite the fact that it was elevated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and his own first-year stimulus spending and again is on the upswing due to his cancellation of student debt.
“The election is not a referendum. It’s a choice. It’s a choice,” Biden said at the White House. “And the Republicans criticize my economic record. But look at what I’ve inherited. And what I’ve done and look at what they’re offering.”
The president claimed that in the “new deficit numbers there’s a record, a record decrease. It’s never happened before” and that “if Republicans get their way, the deficit is going to soar and the tax burden is going to fall on the middle class.”
The government’s deficit spending was lower in the past year due to increased tax revenue and subsiding COVID-19 expenses — though the debt continued to expand past $31 trillion amid the worst inflation since 1981.
The federal deficit in fiscal 2022, which ended Sept. 30, was $1.38 trillion — down dramatically from $2.77 trillion in fiscal 2021 and $3.13 trillion in fiscal 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.
But in September, the deficit surged 562%, according to the Treasury Department, which accounted for Biden’s attempt to forgive between $10,000 and $20,000 of federally owned student loans per borrower. That plan is estimated to cost $400 billion.
The past fiscal year’s deficit was still the fourth-highest on record, after 2009’s $1.42 trillion caused by corporate bailouts and lower tax revenue during the Great Recession.
Biden, whose own approval rating averages about 42%, has been conspicuously missing from the midterm campaign trail — but he said Friday that he’s hopeful that Democrats can still win.
“Polls have been all over the place. I think we’re going to see one more shift back to our side in the closing days,” Biden said. “Let me tell you why I think that. We are starting to see some of the good news on the economy. Gas prices are down sharply in 46 of 50 states because of what I’ve been doing. We’re moving in the right direction and there’s more to come. State unemployment today, state unemployment is at all-time lows in 11 states and 17 states have unemployment rates under 3%.”
Republicans have accused Biden of releasing oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help Democrats in the midterms and have floated Biden’s possible impeachment for asking the Saudi Arabia-led OPEC+ cartel to delay a production-cuts decision until after the elections.
Biden’s claims of deficit reduction have been ridiculed by conservatives who point out that he’s presided over massive spending bills blamed for fueling the highest inflation in 41 years.
Last year, Biden signed a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that passed without Republican support and the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law. This year, he signed the $280 billion bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, a $437 billion environmental and health care spending bill, and a $270 billion veterans health care bill.
Although some of the spending bills contained revenue offsets, skeptics accused Democrats of budget gimmicks to paint a rosier economic picture.
Republicans are campaigning on slowing spending and potentially returning to the Treasury some unspent funds from legislation passed during Biden’s first two years in office.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, the No. 3 House Republican, told The Post on Monday that the GOP would seek to “claw back this reckless spending” to reduce inflation.
“Inflation by far is the number one concern of voters not only in my district but across the country,” Stefanik said.
“What are Republicans going to do? It’s the number one priority and in our ‘Commitment to America,’ an economy that’s strong. And the first way we start to strengthen the economy is rein in inflation by stopping the reckless spending bills,” she added. “We absolutely will use that power … to not only claw back this reckless spending but also put a stop to Joe Biden’s spending proposals … and that will begin to lower the rate of inflation.”