President Biden boasted during his Labor Day speech in Philadelphia on Monday that he is reducing the federal budget deficit – despite the fact that it has increased this year.
“Unlike the last president, in my first two years — all these things, guess what? — I cut the deficit by $1.7 trillion, cut the debt by $1.7 trillion,” the 80-year-old president said, incorporating basic budget terms after he touted new infrastructure spending.
That claim, which Biden has made in the past, routinely draws unflattering fact-checking because government spending remains at near-record highs — while most of the previous reductions came from the end of COVID-19 emergency spending, rather than the president’s own actions.
In fact, the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projects that the federal deficit for fiscal 2023, which ends on September 30, will reach $2 trillion — about double what it was last year.
“I cut the deficit by $1.7 trillion, cut the debt by $1.7 trillion,” President Biden said. AFP via Getty Images
Treasury Department data also showed the year-to-date deficit in July at about $1.61 trillion — meaning it would have been the highest ever when excluding the COVID-19 pandemic.
The imbalance has been cited by House conservatives who are demanding cuts as part of a government spending bill that must pass later this month.
“Bidenomics: US deficit explodes even as economy grows,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) tweeted Sunday, sharing a link to projections that the deficit will jump 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 rein in runaway spending by this administration – and this month’s budget tussle is the time to do it,” he said.
Pedestrians walk past the National Debt Clock in New York. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) urged fellow fiscal peddlers to refrain from passing short-term government funding extensions to avoid a partial government shutdown by Oct. 1 — and called on Republicans not to use the expected impeachment inquiry into Biden as a cover to avoid doing so.
“To the @HouseGOP – hiding behind impeachment to screw America with the status quo of massive funding of Covid, Borders, DOJ, & tyrannical DOJ will not end well,” Roy tweeted.
“Republicans should not be funding … the things they campaigned against – and then just shrug their shoulders … borders … DOJ weaponry … DOD awake … IRS abuse … COVID Tyranny.”
The deficit crept higher during former President Donald Trump’s first three years in office before jumping from under $1 trillion to an all-time high of more than $3.1 trillion in fiscal 2020, as the government covered most of the nation’s payroll during the early phase of the pandemic.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projects that the federal deficit for fiscal 2023, which ends Sept. 30, will reach $2 trillion.Getty Images
The deficit dipped lower to $2.8 trillion in fiscal 2021, which includes most of Biden’s first year in office, even as Democrats passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill without Republican support in Congress.
Critics say the Dem’s move helped cause US inflation to be the worst in four decades, peaking at an annual rate of 9.1% last June.
The federal deficit rose again in part due to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates to tame inflation, which has made it cost the US government higher to finance national spending.
It has also been fueled by the fact that the US Supreme Court has struck down Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.
Rising interest rates are also hurting the average borrower — with the average consumer credit card interest rate now at 27.99% — nearly double the average of 14.6% when Biden was in office. The average 30-year home mortgage rate has also jumped from 2.65% to 7.48% at the end of August.
The national debt has risen overall by more than $5 trillion since Biden took office, from $27.75 trillion to about $32.8 trillion. It jumped nearly $8 trillion — from $19.95 trillion — during Trump’s four years in office.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
