Tax cuts and pandemic relief enacted under the Trump administration increased the national debt by $8.4 trillion over the 10-year budget period, according to a study released Wednesday by the head of a budget watchdog group.
Discretionary spending increases in 2018 and 2019 added $2.1 trillion, and President Trump's signature Tax Cuts and Jobs Act added $1.9 trillion, according to the Responsible Federal Budget Board (CRFB), a Washington think tank. The bipartisan CARES Act of 2020 added another $1.9 trillion for pandemic relief. , found in research It was released earlier this month.
“Of the $8.4 trillion in debt added by President Trump, $3.6 trillion came from the Coronavirus Relief Act and executive orders, $2.5 trillion came from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, $2.3 trillion came from increased spending, and the rest “Each executive order has approximately offsetting costs and savings,” CRFB budget experts wrote in the report's summary.
The only significant deficit reduction enacted by the Trump administration cited in the report came from tariffs on various imports, which are estimated to have resulted in an influx of $445 billion over 10 years.
Questions about the budgetary effectiveness of President Trump's fiscal policies are at issue in the ongoing Republican primaries. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who withdrew from the race on Sunday, both criticized the former president's push to further widen the budget deficit.
Although Haley remains in the race, Trump appears to be on track to win the Republican presidential nomination for a third time, beating her by more than 10 points in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.
The Biden administration also passed several deficit-increasing bills, including an infrastructure bill that would increase the deficit by $256 billion and a bill to expand domestic semiconductor production that would increase the deficit by $79 billion.
The administration's flagship environmental and health-care package, known as the Anti-Inflation Act, reduced the budget deficit by $200 billion to $300 billion.
US deficit It rose to more than 130% of gross domestic product (GDP) after the pandemic, but has since stabilized to around 120%. This new plateau is significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels, which hovered around 100 percent of GDP from 2012 to 2020.
The U.S. debt, which stands at about $34 trillion, has become a major focus for Republicans, who have pushed for deep spending cuts since taking control of the House of Representatives in January 2023.
Last summer, partisan tensions over the U.S. debt and spending cuts nearly pushed the U.S. into default on its outstanding debt before an agreement was reached to raise the debt ceiling. Threats to shut down the government over budget deficits are also on the rise in a divided Congress.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
