President Joe Biden's gaffe-filled State of the Union Address last night was littered with lies, cringeworthy blunders, and pro-Biden administration propaganda. Among the distortions, Biden repeated his go-to talking point on America's supposedly declining federal deficit.
CLAIM: "In the last two years, my administration cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion—the largest deficit reduction in American history," Biden claimed in the annual address. "Under the previous administration, America's deficit went up four years in a row."
Biden falsely claiming the national deficit has gone down?!? Senator Manchin looks embarrassed. Remember how the networks fact-checked Trump’s SOTUs in real-time? Nothing like that here. pic.twitter.com/cMuJxKH112
— @amuse (@amuse) February 8, 2023
FACTS: While it is accurate that the deficit—when the federal government's spending exceeds its tax revenues—fell by $1.7 trillion in fiscal years 2021 and 2022, Biden's self-congratulatory praise failed to acknowledge that the reason for the deficit's decline was the record-high increase in 2020 under then-President Donald Trump because of bipartisan pandemic-relief packages. As expected, the deficit dropped when the pandemic-era emergency spending expired. Thus, it's not Biden's doing.
Quite the contrary, independent analysts assert that Biden's actions, such as his executive orders as well as deficit-increasing policies and bills he has backed, have added to current and future deficits—"not reduced" them. Dan White, the senior director of economic research at Moody’s Analytics, a leading financial firm whose economic assessments Biden has frequently cited during presidential remarks, told CNN in the fall: "On net, the policies of the administration have increased the deficit, not reduced it."
Meanwhile, non-profit public policy organization Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget published a September report that found that policymakers in the Biden administration are continuing to borrow at an excessive level, a spending spree that will contribute more than a whopping $4.8 trillion to deficits between 2021 and 2031 through legislative and executive actions.
📈With #inflation still persistent in the economy, we need fiscally responsible policies to reduce deficits and achieve sustainability.
— CRFB.org (@BudgetHawks) September 13, 2022
➡️Adding $4.8 trillion in borrowing over the next decade, rather than paying down debt, does exactly the opposite: https://t.co/KspgA4xgWd. https://t.co/nYq2VfFOdJ pic.twitter.com/WtRfUVTAJt
CRFB president Maya MacGuineas declared in an October statement to CNN that the "White House is knowingly twisting the facts to tell a very different story than a fair and accurate one." Commenting on where credit is due, the president of the deficit watchdog added: "I'd love to give the White House credit. Unfortunately, their record doesn't give you anything to cheer about."
Townhall has previously debunked Biden's deficit-cutting claims that he has repeated—and continues to repeat—ad nauseam.
RATING: Biden's boast is misleading, lacks context, and takes credit for an expected expiration of pandemic-related spending. It's a victory lap Biden has gone on often despite the fact that the deficit drop was driven down by waning COVID-19 relief. After the relief lapsed, the deficit would've fallen much more had spending-happy measures not been implemented, budget hawks say.