Biden Under Fire For “Demon Insult”

At the National Action Network’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Breakfast, President Joe Biden slammed Republicans, labeling them “fiscally demented.”

According to a story from The Hill, Biden claimed that “we’re achieving this progress at the same time, decreased the deficit. You know, we’re going to speak about Democrats again, as big spenders? What’s this?I decreased the deficit this past year by $350 billion. And the current year? The government deficit has decreased by more than $1 trillion. That is true. Over the course of the next ten years, hundreds of billions will be cut. I believe these guys are financially insane. They’re not quite getting it.”

According to data from the Office of Management and Budget, Biden was apparently referring to a fall in the budget deficit from $3.1 trillion in the fiscal year 2020 to $2.7 trillion in the fiscal year 2021, which was followed by yet another decrease to $1.4 trillion in fiscal year 2022. The president neglected to explain that the stimulus packages approved by lawmakers in response to the lockdown-induced recession came after the deficit reductions; the most current $1.4 trillion budget deficit is far larger than deficits seen in the years prior to the lockdowns.

According to a Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget analysis, the expenditure packages Biden signed will add more than $4.8 trillion in new deficit spending between 2021 and 2031, contradicting his assertion that “hundreds of billions” will be reduced from the deficit over the next ten years. The American Rescue Plan, a stimulus plan passed shortly after Biden’s inauguration, would no longer have any impact, which would result in $2.5 trillion in new deficits.

Biden has asserted time and time again that his actions have benefited the tax payer.

“Things have changed under my watch. Both years I’ve been in government, the deficit has decreased,” he said last year. “And I recently approved legislation that will further cut it over the years. Republicans in Congress are now intensifying their efforts to increase the deficit. Republican leaders recently declared that they would prolong the Trump tax cuts, which are set to expire in a few years, if they got their way.”

The fiscal year 2021 budget deficit, according to analysis by the Government Accountability Office, was the “second greatest in history,” with the prior deficit being the biggest. The auditing body went on to say that “these historically high deficits were principally attributable to the economic disruptions caused from COVID and the increased spending by the federal govt. in order to help the country recover from the pandemic.”

The bipartisan omnibus spending package, which raised discretionary expenditure by around 10%, was also mentioned by the Bipartisan Policy Center in a report as having an effect on the deficit for the fiscal year 2023. The Federal Reserve’s initiatives to reduce inflationary pressures are anticipated to cause the deficit to grow as interest rates rise.

Republicans in Congress, who now control the House, have pledged to review the nation’s spending priorities. In a recent statement made available to The Daily Wire, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) denounced deficit spending during the Biden administration.

He noted that “President Biden and his Dem. supporters in Congress had boosted federal spending by $10 trillion over the previous two years, which had led to a significant worsening of the debt issue in the United States. I implore President Biden as well as Majority Leader Schumer to follow historical precedent and collaborate with House Republicans to find a reasonable, bipartisan solution to put America on a more sustainable fiscal trajectory and pay down our debt, as well as to find a way to end the government’s deficit. The people of America deserve a responsible government and a robust economy.”