Biden boasts about cutting federal budget deficit — as it soars
President Biden boasted during a Labor Day speech in Philadelphia on Monday that he cut the federal budget deficit — despite the fact that it’s soaring this year.
“Unlike the last president, in my first two years — all this stuff, guess what? — I cut the deficit $1.7 trillion, cut the debt $1.7 trillion,” the 80-year-old president said, conflating the basic budget terms after he touted new infrastructure spending.
The claim, which Biden has made in the past, routinely attracts unflattering fact checks because government spending remains at near-record highs — while much of the previous reduction came from the expiration of COVID-19 emergency spending, rather than the president’s own actions.
In reality, the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projects that the federal deficit for fiscal 2023, which ends Sept. 30, will hit $2 trillion — roughly double what it was last year.
The Treasury Department’s data also show the year-to-date deficit as of July at about $1.61 trillion — meaning it’s already the highest ever when excluding the COVID-19 pandemic.
The imbalance has been cited by House conservatives who are demanding cuts as part of must-pass government spending bills later this month.
“Bidenomics: U.S. deficit explodes even as economy grows,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) tweeted Sunday, sharing a link to a projection that the deficit will soar this year.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) added in a tweet, “The federal budget deficit will explode to $2 trillion this year — after Biden said it would decrease.
“We need to control the runaway spending by this administration — and the budget fight this month is the time to do it,’’ he said.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) urged fellow fiscal hawks to refuse to pass a short-term government funding extension to avert a partial government shutdown by Oct. 1 — and called on Republicans not to use an expected impeachment inquiry into Biden as cover to avoid doing so.
“To the @HouseGOP — hiding behind impeachment to screw America with status quo massive funding of Covid, Border, DOJ, & DOJ tyrants will not end well,” Roy tweeted.
“Republicans should not fund … the things they campaign against – and then just shrug… border… DOJ weaponization… DOD wokeness… IRS abuse… COVID tyranny.”
The deficit crept higher during former President Donald Trump’s first three years in office before soaring from under $1 trillion to an all-time high of more than $3.1 trillion in fiscal 2020, as the government covered much of the nation’s payroll during the early phase of the pandemic.
The deficit nudged lower to $2.8 trillion in fiscal 2021, which included most of Biden’s first year in office, despite Democrats passing a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill with no Republican support in Congress.
Critics say the Dem move helped cause the worst US inflation in four decades, peaking at an annual rate of 9.1% last June.
The federal deficit is increasing again in part because of Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes to tame inflation, which has resulted in higher US government costs to finance the nation’s spending.
Interest-rate hikes are hammering ordinary borrowers, as well — with average consumer credit-card interest rates now 27.99% — almost double the 14.6% average when Biden took office. Average 30-year home mortgage rates also have soared from 2.65% to 7.48% as of late August.
The national debt has increased overall by more than $5 trillion since Biden took office, from $27.75 trillion to about $32.8 trillion. It jumped by almost $8 trillion — from $19.95 trillion — during Trump’s four years in office.
