Deficit Scorecard True 0% 62 Checks Mostly True 0% 56 Checks Half True 0% 0 Checks Mostly False 0% 39 Checks False 0% 62 Checks Pants on Fire 0% 14 Checks For more details, see the Principles of PolitiFact All Fact-checks for Deficit Donald Trump stated on November 12, 2025 in an X post: “My tariffs … are helping to slash the deficit this year by more than 25%.” November 14, 2025 stated on July 20, 2025 in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation": Tariffs are “going to pay off our deficit.” July 22, 2025 Karoline Leavitt stated on May 19, 2025 in a White House press briefing: President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill “does not add to the deficit.” May 21, 2025 Joe Biden stated on March 7, 2024 in his State of the Union address: The Trump administration "added more to the national debt than any presidential term in American history." By Louis Jacobson • March 12, 2024 Joe Biden stated on March 7, 2024 in a State of the Union address: "We’ve already cut the federal deficit by over $1 trillion." By Louis Jacobson • March 8, 2024 Mike Johnson stated on November 5, 2023 in an interview on "Fox News Sunday": “Only in Washington can you cut funding, add a pay-for to a new spending measure, and they say it's terrible for the deficit.” By Louis Jacobson • November 7, 2023 Joe Biden stated on August 29, 2023 in a speech at the White House: “According to the Congressional Budget Office,” the Inflation Reduction Act “will save the federal government $160 billion over the next 10 years because Medicare will be paying less for the prescription drugs they’re making available to seniors.” By Louis Jacobson • August 31, 2023 Mike Pence stated on August 23, 2023 in a Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee: "I actually pushed the Deficit Reduction Act. That was the last time we actually reduced the national debt in the United States, when I was the leader of House conservatives." By Louis Jacobson • August 29, 2023 Devin LeMahieu stated on January 3, 2023 in Senate address: "In 2010, (Wisconsin Republicans) inherited a multi-Billion dollar deficit … Today we are looking at a projected surplus approaching 7 Billion." By Vanessa Swales • February 3, 2023 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated on January 27, 2023 in an interview with reporters: “The largest contributor to the debt ceiling, or to our deficit, has been the Trump tax cuts.” By Louis Jacobson • February 1, 2023 Load More Latest Articles Trump sees a future without federal income taxes, but the tariff math doesn’t add up • December 3, 2025 Trump proposed $2,000 payments for Americans from tariff dividends. Would that work? • November 10, 2025 The deficit has fallen under Joe Biden. It’s still higher than before the pandemic. By Louis Jacobson • March 5, 2024 The Democrats’ overstated claim that the Inflation Reduction Act curbs debt, inflation By Louis Jacobson • August 19, 2022 Fact-checking Ted Cruz’s ‘Real State of the Union’ By Nusaiba Mizan • March 17, 2022 Deficit ‘prediction’ for infrastructure bill varies widely from estimates • November 10, 2021 The looming debt-ceiling showdown: What you need to know By Louis Jacobson • September 22, 2021
