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Latest Fact-Checks In Deficit

Clear
Donald Trump
Donald Trump
stated on November 12, 2025 an X post:
“My tariffs … are helping to slash the deficit this year by more than 25%.”
False
By Louis Jacobson • November 14, 2025
Howard Lutnick
Howard Lutnick
stated on July 20, 2025 an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation":
Tariffs are “going to pay off our deficit.”
False
By Louis Jacobson • July 22, 2025
Karoline Leavitt
Karoline Leavitt
stated on May 19, 2025 a White House press briefing:
President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill “does not add to the deficit.”
False
By Louis Jacobson • May 21, 2025
Joe Biden
Joe Biden
stated on March 7, 2024 his State of the Union address:
The Trump administration "added more to the national debt than any presidential term in American history."
Half-True
By Louis Jacobson • March 12, 2024
Joe Biden
Joe Biden
stated on March 7, 2024 a State of the Union address:
"We’ve already cut the federal deficit by over $1 trillion."
Half-True
By Louis Jacobson • March 8, 2024
Mike Johnson
Mike Johnson
stated on November 5, 2023 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.”
False
By Louis Jacobson • November 7, 2023
Joe Biden
Joe Biden
stated on August 29, 2023 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.”
Mostly True
By Louis Jacobson • August 31, 2023
Mike Pence
Mike Pence
stated on August 23, 2023 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."
Mostly False
By Louis Jacobson • August 29, 2023
Devin LeMahieu
Devin LeMahieu
stated on January 3, 2023 Senate address:
"In 2010, (Wisconsin Republicans) inherited a multi-Billion dollar deficit … Today we are looking at a projected surplus approaching 7 Billion."
Mostly True
By Vanessa Swales • February 3, 2023
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
stated on January 27, 2023 an interview with reporters:
“The largest contributor to the debt ceiling, or to our deficit, has been the Trump tax cuts.”
False
By Louis Jacobson • February 1, 2023
Occupy Democrats
Occupy Democrats
stated on January 12, 2023 a Facebook post:
"Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit or the national debt."
Mostly False
By Tom Kertscher • January 18, 2023
Joe Biden
Joe Biden
stated on September 18, 2022 an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes":
“This year, it's going to be over $1.5 trillion (that we’ve) reduced the debt."
Half-True
By Louis Jacobson • September 20, 2022
Janet Yellen
Janet Yellen
stated on July 24, 2022 an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press":
"We've cut the deficit by a record $1.5 trillion this year."
Half-True
By Louis Jacobson • July 28, 2022
Joe Biden
Joe Biden
stated on May 10, 2022 remarks at the White House:
“My Treasury Department is planning to pay down the national debt this quarter, which never happened under my predecessor.”
Half-True
By Louis Jacobson • May 13, 2022
Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Graham
stated on December 12, 2021 an interview on Fox News Sunday:
“The CBO says (the Build Back Better Act) is $3 trillion of deficit spending.”
False
By Jon Greenberg, Louis Jacobson • December 14, 2021
Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy
stated on November 18, 2021 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.”
False
By Louis Jacobson • November 19, 2021
Joe Biden
Joe Biden
stated on October 6, 2021 remarks at the White House:
“Raising the debt limit is paying our old debts. It has nothing to do with new spending.”
Mostly True
By Louis Jacobson • October 13, 2021
Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley
stated on June 28, 2021 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.”
Half-True
By Jason Asenso, Louis Jacobson • July 2, 2021
Wisconsin Republican Legislative leaders
Wisconsin Republican Legislative leaders
stated on April 7, 2021 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.
True
By Madeline Heim • May 25, 2021
Ted Cruz
Ted Cruz
stated on October 26, 2020 an interview:
Says Trump “didn’t campaign on cutting the debt” … “That’s not what he promised to do.”
False
By Brandon Mulder • October 30, 2020
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