Trump Added Nearly Two Times More To The National Debt Than Biden While In Office: New Report

A new report outlines how President Joe Biden added $4.3 trillion to the national debt with seven months left in his term while his opponent, Ex-President Donald Trump, added $8.4 trillion to the U.S. national debt during his time in office.

The Data: The non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) released a report on Monday recapping the fiscal record of both major 2024 candidates.

From 2017 through 2021, Trump’s 10-year debt approvals incuded $4.8 trillion ub non-COVID related plus $3.6 trillion in COVID relief.

Trump’s Tax Cuts & Jobs Act added $1.9 trillion to the U.S. national debt, while bipartisan Budget Acts added $2.1 trillion.

For Biden, $2.2 trillion was non-COVID spending while $2.1 trillion was COVID-related spending.

Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and student debt actions added $439 billion and $620 billion to the national debt respectively. The Fiscal Responsibility Act and Inflation Reduction Act shaved off nearly $2 trillion in debt.

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Why it Matters: Each candidate’s fiscal track record on the U.S. national debt is under scrutiny ahead of the hotly-contested 2024 election.

The two tools of fiscal policy are government spending and taxes. Any attempt to bring down the fiscal deficit must either reduce government spending or increase taxes.

Many economists, such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, are less concerned about fiscal deficits so long that deficits are stabilized relative to the size of the economy.

The majority of Americans prefer reducing spending to raising taxes, according to Gallup, although both actions are unsurprisingly unpopular.

The high interest rate environment in the U.S. has sent national interest payments soaring, now an outsized portion of the country’s deficit.

A portion of Thursday’s presidential debate between Biden and Trump will likely discuss both candidates’ economic policies, possibly concerning the national debt. Trump’s CRFB record on the national debt runs contrary to Republicans’ historically hawkish stance on fiscal issues.

And, according to a New York Times analysis, the U.S. economy (since 1933) has grown at an annual average rate of 4.6% under Democratic presidents and 2.4% under Republicans.

Also Read: Biden Vs. Trump – New Poll Identifies Inflation As Major Pushback For Incumbent

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