“The deficit is falling by $1.5 trillion, that’s not the same as saying the president is cutting the deficit by $1.5 trillion,” said Marc Goldwein, senior policy director with the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “One reason it will fall so much between 2021 and ‘22 is because the president signed legislation that increased it so much in 2021.”
Last March, Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which attracted no Republican votes and contributed greatly to that year’s $2.8 trillion deficit.
“That’s not the only reason [for last year’s deficit], but it’s a big reason,” said Goldwein. “It’s kind of bizarre to take credit for deficit reduction when it’s driven by the expiration of your deficit increases.”
This year’s deficit will likely be the fourth-largest in American history, easily outpacing the $900 billion figure from 2019, though deficit hawks give Biden credit for even talking about the importance of fiscal responsibility in the federal government.