Another huge Joe Biden accomplishment just before the midterms
President Joe Biden ended this week with a historic announcement relating to a key issue on voters’ minds. For fiscal year 2022, the U.S. budget deficit was cut in half, marking the steepest drop in U.S. history. Not only is this development welcome news for the nation’s economic health, but it’s yet another example of how the Biden administration has been succeeding in turning America around since the disastrous Trump years, even in the face of brinksmanship and obstruction from Congressional Republicans.
The U.S. deficit fell from $2.776 trillion in 2021 to $1.375 trillion in 2022. In addition, revenue increased by $850 billion to $4.896 trillion, smashing yet another record. Although critics might be quick to point out that deficits rose in the prior two years as the government spent money to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the story is too complex to simply be Republicansplained away.
Fighting the pandemic was one necessary expenditure that added to the deficit. In addition, Republicans have pursued reckless measures such as the 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy are policies that “have failed the country” and will “fail it again,” Biden warned. “The federal deficit went up every single year in the Trump administration—every single year he was President,” Biden explained, before emphasizing that this, of course, means the deficit rose before and during the pandemic. Biden then dropped the mike, so to speak, by slamming the GOP’s approach to fixing the economy as “mega-MAGA trickle down.”
It’s also remarkable that the Biden administration’s massive deficit reduction achievement comes despite the government’s additional spending for Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, which adds an estimated $430 billion to the deficit. This means that if Biden had not introduced the loan forgiveness program, the historic deficit reduction would have been even greater.
Polls continue to show that the economy is a top concern for voters. As this historic achievement exemplifies, Democrats continue to show they have winning solutions along with talented, dedicated leaders who are committed to implementing them. This is yet another slam-dunk reason to vote Democratic on November 8.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month