Under Biden, US budget deficit hits historic high of $6.6 trillion
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President Joe Biden makes history after his government's expenditures surpass its revenues by a whopping $6.6 trillion.
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President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Philadelphia International Airport, in Philadelphia, Friday, August 16, 2024 on his way to Hagerstown, Md. (AP)
The United States' budget deficit has reached an all-time-high of $6.6 trillion under President Joe Biden's administration, Sputnik estimated based on data obtained from the US Treasury Department.
Over the past three and a half years of biden's presidency, the US government's expenses exceeded its revenues by $6.6 trillion, marking the highest deficit in the history of these records.
In 2021, the deficit stood at $2.8 trillion, or 13% of GDP. The following year saw a reduction to $1.4 trillion, or 6.3% of GDP, but increased again the year after to $1.7 trillion, or 7.6% of GDP. In the first half of this year, the deficit reached $758.2 billion, translating to 5.5% of GDP on a rolling annual basis.
On the other hand, Donald Trump accumulated a total deficit of $5.6 trillion. During Trump's tenure, the largest annual deficit was in 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, reaching $3.1 trillion, or 15.5% of GDP.
Barack Obama was the only American president this century to decrease the US budget deficit by the end of his term, reducing it to $2.2 trillion from $5.1 trillion during George W. Bush’s presidency. Notably, Bush was the last president to oversee a budget surplus, which totaled $130 billion in 2001.
For nearly a century, the US has consistently faced a chronic budget deficit, with the last extended period of surplus occurring from 1920 to 1930. After World War II, Harry Truman was the only president to achieve a budget surplus, from 1946 to 1950. The largest surplus recorded was during Ronald Reagan's presidency, totaling $1.34 trillion.
To manage its substantial budget deficits, the US relies on national debt, which in July surpassed $35 trillion for the first time and increased by an additional $160 billion just two weeks later.
Ukraine, 'Israel' aid, student debt spikes US 2024 budget deficit
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported in June that the US national debt is on course to increase by 27% this fiscal year compared to earlier estimates.
The CBO updated its predictions and anticipated the federal budget deficit to be $1.9 trillion in the 2024 fiscal year, rising to about $2.0 trillion when accounting for a shift in the timing of some payments.
CBO Director Phillip Swagel reported this would be nearly $400 billion higher than the CBO's February prediction, leaving the deficit at 7.0% of GDP.
Much of the rise from the February prediction is due to a $145 billion increase in predicted student loan outlays after the Biden administration revised the cost of subsidies and suggested a regulation to minimize student loan balances.
As a result, the CBO predicts that government debt owned by the public will climb from 99% this fiscal year to 122% in 2034.
