Biden aides tout plunging deficit as GOP prepares for spending fights

“The federal deficit went up every year in the Trump administration — every single year he was president,” President Biden told reporters, criticizing the GOP tax law of 2017 that added more than $1.5 trillion to the deficit. “On my watch, things have been different — the deficit has come down both years I’ve been in office, and I’ve just signed legislation that will reduce it even more in the decades to come.”

Biden also criticized congressional Republicans for pushing to expand the Trump tax cuts, arguing such a move would dramatically increase federal deficits. He accused the GOP of pushing cuts to Social Security — though Republicans have said their proposed changes to Social Security would not cut benefit amounts. And he criticized his opponents’ push to repeal key parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, his signature economic law that passed over the summer.

“If Republicans get their way, the deficit is going to soar, the burden is going to fall on the middle-class … They’re not going to stop there,” Biden said. “It’s MAGA-mega trickle-down.”

Biden budget pivots to deficit concerns while boosting military, domestic programs

The new deficit estimate — widely expected by budget analysts — could help set the stage for fresh fights on Capitol Hill over taxes and revenue. GOP leaders have suggested in recent days that if they have more power in Congress next year, they may be willing to leverage a government shutdown or breach of the federal borrowing limit to demand spending cuts. That could lead to a reprise of the battles during the Obama administration, when lawmakers came close to triggering a worldwide economic calamity by failing to pay off America’s loan obligations.

While Biden is eager to tout the shrinking deficit, conservatives point out that it dropped relative to last year in large part because of the end of large spending programs he approved.

“It is terribly disingenuous for the White House to take credit for reducing the deficit simply because temporary pandemic spending expired on schedule,” said Brian Riedl, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank, and former chief economist to Sen. Rob Portman…