According to Fresh, Donald Trump has increased the national debt almost twice as much as Joe Biden did during his presidential term analysis of their budget expenditure.
Former President Trump approved $8.4 trillion in new 10-year loans during his entire term, according to a nonpartisan public policy think tank.
Meanwhile, President Biden has greenlit $4.3 trillion in the same type of loans, with seven months to go.
Even excluding pandemic-era relief spending, Trump still contributed more to the national debt during his time in office, the report found.
The winner of November’s presidential election faces a bleak budget outlook, with public debt on track to reach a record share of the economy under the next administration.
The debt surpassed $34 trillion early this year and is expected to surpass $56 trillion by 2034, according to forecasts earlier this month.
Former President Trump approved $8.4 trillion in new ten-year loans during his entire term
The report from the nonprofit group, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, points out that both candidates bear some of the responsibility for adding significant amounts of new borrowing in their first terms.
However, it turned out that Trump’s spending was much higher – thanks in part to the significant tax reforms he implemented in 2017.
Excluding Covid-19 relief, Trump has added $4.8 trillion in borrowing over ten years.
His biggest additions to the debt were the tax cuts, which added $1.9 trillion in additional borrowing, and bipartisan spending packages that added $2.1 trillion.
Trump added $3.6 trillion in Covid relief, the analysis shows, including $1.9 trillion thanks to the CARES Act introduced at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Biden, meanwhile, has spent an additional $2.2 trillion on non-Covid related items in the three years and five months since he took office.
This consists of spending for 2022 and 2023 – which added $1.4 trillion – student debt relief programs – which added $620 billion in debt – and changes to SNAP benefits and Medicaid.
In terms of Covid relief, the president added $2.1 trillion in debt through his American Rescue Plan Act, which provided a slew of funding to state and local governments, health care providers and public health agencies.
According to the analysis, roughly 77 percent of the 10-year debt approved by Trump came from bipartisan legislation, while 29 percent of the 10-year debt approved by President Biden so far came from bipartisan legislation.
“The next president will face enormous budget problems,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the budget watchdog Axios.
“Yet both candidates have track records of approving trillions in new loans, even setting aside warranted COVID loans, and neither has proposed a comprehensive and credible plan to get debt under control,” she said.
“No president is entirely responsible for the budget problems that come with them, but he should use the bully pulpit to clear the way for some tough choices to be made.”
Warnings from nonprofits and economists about the impact of rising debt levels on the U.S. economy are growing louder as the election approaches.
Donald Trump has built up the national debt almost twice as much as Joe Biden did during his presidential term, according to a new analysis of their budget spending
The national debt surpassed $34 trillion at the beginning of this year
The federal debt is at an all-time high and interest payments on this debt are now the fastest growing part of the federal budget, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Interest payments rose above Medicaid last year and will rise above Defense and Medicare later this year. The first is health insurance for people with a limited income, the latter is mainly for people over 65.
It means that interest payments will be the second largest government expenditure by the end of 2024. Only social security will be a larger cost item.
The Social Security trust fund is also on track for depletion by 2033, when only 79 percent of planned benefits would be payable.
If Congress does not ensure that these programs have the resources to continue paying full benefits, it would mean millions of Americans would see their monthly benefits reduced.
Earlier this year, legendary hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones said a “debt bomb” is about to explode in the US – due to “unsustainable” government borrowing.
The billionaire investor said the economy appears strong, but beneath the surface it is actually about “steroids” masking big problems.