The White House has been trying to paint President Biden as the champion of prudent economic stewardship. Biden’s “record on fiscal responsibility is second to none,” it asserts. As temporary covid measures end — and record-high deficits predictably decline — the administration is congratulating itself for that supposed achievement.
But the administration’s record is, sadly, the opposite of what it argues. Since entering office, the president has approved policies adding $4.8 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. This is an extraordinary sum, which makes it all the more astonishing that the administration would try to pull off this claim. …
Specifically, the administration and Congress went on a bipartisan borrowing binge for higher appropriations, infrastructure investments, spending on microchips, veterans’ benefits and aid to Ukraine, adding $1.4 trillion more to the debt. Rather than insisting the bills be paid for, Biden gave them full-throated support.
And that wasn’t all. The White House added to this fiscal irresponsibility by initiating an additional $1.1 trillion of borrowing through the aggressive use of executive actions, including his most recent unpaid-for student debt relief plan. The debt relief alone will cost a half a trillion dollars by my organization’s estimate. Others put the price tag even higher.
Maya MacGuineas is president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
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