March 07, 2023

The Past is Prologue: Biden's Deficit Spending Record

When President Biden was asked what he we would do differently in the next two years, he responded emphatically, “nothing.” It’s safe to say the President’s budget will advance his radical agenda with record-breaking deficit spending, tax-hikes, and increases in the national debt.

Historic Taxes, Spending, and Deficits

  • Over ten years, President Biden’s FY 2023 budget proposed:
    • Spending: $73 trillion or 23.4 percent of GDP—highest sustained level in American history.
    • Taxes: $58 trillion or 18.8 percent of GDP—highest sustained level in American history.
    • Deficits: $14.4 trillion or 4.7 percent of GDP—highest sustained level in American history.
Record-Breaking Debt
  • Under the President’s FY 2023 budget, the debt would grow be allowed to grow by $16 trillion over ten years, or $50,000 of debt per American citizen.
  • By 2032, the total federal debt would be $135,000 per American citizen, or $330,000 per household.
  • Under CBO’s current projections, the gross federal debt would increase from $31 trillion today (123 percent of GDP) to $52 trillion (132 percent of GDP) in 2033. CBO’s most recent projections have the debt growing to $154 trillion by 2053. This is equivalent to more than $1 million per American household ($540,000 after adjusting for inflation)—which is more than four times current median household net worth.
Interest Payments on Debt Fastest Growing Item in Federal Budget
  • Since Biden took office, CBO’s projections of ten-year interest payments on the federal debt have grow by $5.9 trillion or 129 percent.
  • CBO projects interest payments on the debt to triple over the decade from less than $500 billion to almost $1.5 trillion.
  • According to CBO, interest payments will increase from less than 10 percent of the federal budget today, to almost a quarter of the federal budget in 30 years.
Double-Digit Non-Defense Growth, Defense Hits Historic Low
  • The FY 2023 Biden Budget proposed a 12 percent increase for non-defense discretionary spending.
  • Defense spending would fall to the lowest level as a percent of GDP since before World War II.
Biden’s Fiscal and Economic Policies Increase Spending by $10 trillion
  • Legislation enacted since Biden took office has increased debt projections by $6 trillion over ten years.
  • Biden’s unprecedented executive actions have increased spending by more than $1 trillion over ten years.
  • Biden’s inflationary economic policies have increased CBO’s projection of interest payments on the debt by $3.6 trillion over ten years.