Deficit Scorecard true 0% 62 Checks mostly true 0% 56 Checks half true 0% 63 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%.” By Louis Jacobson • November 14, 2025 stated on July 20, 2025 in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation": Tariffs are “going to pay off our deficit.” By Louis Jacobson • 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.” By Louis Jacobson • 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 Occupy Democrats stated on January 12, 2023 in a Facebook post: "Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit or the national debt." January 18, 2023 Joe Biden stated on September 18, 2022 in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes": “This year, it's going to be over $1.5 trillion (that we’ve) reduced the debt." By Louis Jacobson • September 20, 2022 Janet Yellen stated on July 24, 2022 in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press": "We've cut the deficit by a record $1.5 trillion this year." By Louis Jacobson • July 28, 2022 Joe Biden stated on May 10, 2022 in remarks at the White House: “My Treasury Department is planning to pay down the national debt this quarter, which never happened under my predecessor.” By Louis Jacobson • May 13, 2022 Lindsey Graham stated on December 12, 2021 in an interview on Fox News Sunday: “The CBO says (the Build Back Better Act) is $3 trillion of deficit spending.” By Jon Greenberg, Louis Jacobson • December 14, 2021 Kevin McCarthy stated on November 18, 2021 in a House floor speech: “Never in American history has so much been spent at one time. Never in American history will so many taxes be raised and so much borrowing be needed to pay for this reckless spending.” By Louis Jacobson • November 19, 2021 Joe Biden stated on October 6, 2021 in remarks at the White House: “Raising the debt limit is paying our old debts. It has nothing to do with new spending.” By Louis Jacobson • October 13, 2021 Nikki Haley stated on June 28, 2021 in a Facebook post: “The national debt is now bigger than our economy. That hasn’t happened since World War Two – and we’re in peacetime. Joe Biden is digging a hole America can never fill.” By Jason Asenso, Louis Jacobson • July 2, 2021 Wisconsin Republican Legislative leaders stated on April 7, 2021 in Twitter: Wisconsin’s 2019-21 budget produced the first positive general fund balance since 2000, and the governor’s proposed 2021-23 budget would return it to a deficit. By Madeline Heim • May 25, 2021 Ted Cruz stated on October 26, 2020 in an interview: Says Trump “didn’t campaign on cutting the debt” … “That’s not what he promised to do.” By Brandon Mulder • October 30, 2020 Load More Latest Articles Trump sees a future without federal income taxes, but the tariff math doesn’t add up By Louis Jacobson • December 3, 2025 Trump proposed $2,000 payments for Americans from tariff dividends. Would that work? By Louis Jacobson, Maria Ramirez Uribe • 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 Latest promises about Deficit Barack Obama Pay for the national service plan without increasing the deficit Bill signed, but no budget offsets | January 11, 2010 Latest promises about Deficit
Barack Obama Pay for the national service plan without increasing the deficit Bill signed, but no budget offsets | January 11, 2010
