September 12, 2022

Fact Check: Biden Brags About Deficit Reduction While Adding Nearly $10 Trillion in New Spending

When it comes to deficit reduction, the Biden White House says one thing and does another. The Biden Administration – including the President – has repeatedly claimed that he is all about reducing deficits:

Meanwhile, the President has dedicated his entire tenure in office thus far to pushing massive spending increases for far-left policies such as $400 billion in welfare for wealthy environmentalists and big corporations, $500 billion slush fund to states and localities packed with waste, more than $330 billion canceling student loans for wealthy borrowers, and $80 billion to double the size of the IRS. President Biden’s track record clearly shows that his Administration is focused on prioritizing reckless spending while ignoring his Administration’s inflation crisis and America’s growing fiscal crisis.

“Washington Democrats have embarked on a massive, reckless spending spree that has driven consumer prices up 13.7 percent since President Biden took office and landed American families in an economic recession. After 19 months of this Administration, it’s clear that President Biden is all talk and no action on deficit reduction,” said House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08). “Just as a rooster taking credit for the sunrise, President Biden would have people believe deficits are coming down because he is cutting spending. But the facts tell a different story. Claiming to be reducing the deficit while enacting policies that have added nearly $10 trillion in new spending is an insult to the intelligence of the American people. Last year, under President Biden’s failed leadership, the deficit reached $2.78 trillion – $517 billion above what CBO said it otherwise should have been – because of his American Rescue Plan, which sparked the highest inflation in forty years and pushed government spending roughly 10 percentage points higher than its historical average, up to 30.5 percent of GDP. Meanwhile, under President Biden’s FY23 budget, deficits for the next decade would average approximately $1.6 trillion – $600 billion higher than the last decade.

"The truth is that spending is coming down from its height during the COVID-19 pandemic, which President Biden is using both to conceal his party’s radical spending agenda and claim that Democrats are reducing the deficit. At the same time, revenues are surging to further close the gap, rising to historic levels thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed by Republicans and signed into law by President Trump. This year alone, revenues are projected to be more than 20 percent of GDP, the highest in 78 years and $1.7 trillion higher than in 2017 when TCJA was passed into law.

“In the same breath that the President claims he’s tackling inflation and deficit spending, he brags about the so-called Inflation Reduction Act – a $745 billion spending spree just enacted that will add $146 billion to the debt and only make the inflation crisis worse. He has singlehandedly created over $1 trillion in new spending through executive actions without even a vote by Congress. Clearly, the President’s agenda prioritizes a massive tax and spending spree that gives Washington more command and control no matter the price tag or cost to the American people.”

Democrats’ Spending Spree

President Biden and Washington Democrats have embarked on a massive spending spree, blowing up the taxpayer credit card. Under their watch, spending has increased by nearly $10 trillion including:

American Rescue Plan: $1.9 trillion

Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act: $625 billion Inflation Reduction Act: $745 billion* *Only after Democrats failed to increase spending by an additional $5 trillion as part of their Build Back Better agenda

Biden’s Executive Actions: $1+ trillion

Increase in interest payments on growing federal debt: $2.5 trillion Key Points
  • In 2021, the deficit was $2.78 trillion – the second highest in American history
  • The annual deficits in Biden’s FY 2023 budget are $1.6 trillion – the highest sustained level of debt in American history
  • Under policies enacted by President Biden and Washington Democrats, the federal government is slated to spend $10 trillion more over the coming decade than was projected prior to the Biden Administration
  • Revenues are on pace to reach $5 trillion for the year, with income tax receipts up 32 percent, and corporate tax receipts up 12 percent so far this year
  • Revenues are up by 23 percent compared to the same point last year
  • Revenues this year have already reached $4.4 trillion, which is higher than any previous full year in American history
  • Smith Op-Ed: Biden’s Spending Spree Has Supercharged Washington’s Power Over The American People

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