(CNSNews.com)—The federal government ran a $2.7-trillion deficit in fiscal year 2021 and currently has a $475-billion deficit for fiscal year 2022. In addition, the national debt, as of Monday, was $30.19 trillion. Despite these numbers, some Republican senators believe that President Joe Biden will not balance the budget or make any real effort to do so.
At the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon, CNSNews.com asked some of the senators if President Biden will ever balance the budget.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) said, “No.”
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said, “No, he’s not really interested in doing that, nor is any other Democrat when you’re doing all this spending without hinting at thinking about how you’re going to pay for it other than borrowing from your future generations.”
“Sadly, many Republicans, as exhibited by the omnibus bill and the earmarks, don’t really believe that much in fiscal integrity either,” said Braun, “but so $2.7 [trillion] already and $425 billion, which looks like it’ll end up close to the $1.5 trillion that I’ve kind of predicted for this year, it’s going to put us about $32 trillion in debt.”
“So, it doesn’t look like there’s anything but shoulders being shrugged over it around here,” he added.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R- W. Va.) told CNS News, “No, he can’t spend enough.”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.Dak.) said, “No, he will not” balance the federal budget, “as long as you’re doing one-time spending programs like he did at the beginning of the year when it was not necessary -- very difficult.”
“The other side of this is until we actually get items under control that we don’t even vote on -- Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security -- we don’t manage them, and since we don’t vote on them we don’t manage them,” said Rounds, “and that’s 70% of the budget. And until such time as we start managing those, along with interest on the debt, we will not get our deficit under control.”
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) replied, “No. No, I mean it’s gotten to the point where, as a percent of our economy, which is the best way to look at it, I think, going back to [unintelligible] since World War II and so it’s a problem.”
“I don’t think that the president wants to take on that issue right now because he has other priorities, and so I think it’s going to be up to Congress to try to put more pressure on the fiscal situation,” said Portman. “That means changing the majorities, you know, Republican majority in the House and Republican majority in the Senate [to] begin to get the budget back under control.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told CNS News, “I don’t think there’s any chance of that [balancing the budget]. We’ve seen with Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi, the most reckless spending spree in modern history and it is driving record-setting inflation. Last month, inflation clocked in at 7.9%. We have the highest inflation rate in 40 years.”
According to a table published by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the Monthly Treasure Statement, the deficit of the U.S. government for fiscal year 2021 (Oct. 1, 2020 -- Sept. 30, 2021) was $2.775 trillion.
And in fiscal year 2022 (Oct. 1, 2021 – Sept. 30, 2022), so far, the federal deficit is $475 billion.
In addition, data from the Fiscal Data Treasury shows that the United States’ total debt, as of March 14, 2022, is $30.19 trillion.
President Biden’s budget plans for FY2022 include the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan. The jobs plan allegedly would create millions of jobs for Americans. This plan focuses on infrastructure, delivering clean water, and a renewed electrical grid, revitalizing manufacturing, as well as other goals.
The American Families Plan allegedly will help families financially and will include additional four years of “free education” for children in preschool (and also two years of community college); provide direct support to children and families, extend tax cuts for families with children and American workers, strengthen health care, along with other goals stated in the plan.
As claimed in the Fact Sheet for Biden’s budget for FY2022, “Over time, the savings from these reforms will exceed the cost of the investments, and by large and growing amounts. The American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan together are paid for over 15 years. And the full set of proposals in the president’s budget reduce the annual deficit by the end of the ten-year budget window and every year thereafter. In the second decade, the president’s budget proposals cut deficits by over $2 trillion.”
According to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), using a Penn Wharton Budgeting Model, the American Jobs Plan “would actually stifle U.S. economic growth and kill American jobs.”
“According to the Budget Model, the Biden administration’s out of control spending would balloon the deficit, which ultimately ‘outweighs productivity boosts from the new public investments,’” said the NRSC. “And the administration’s tax hikes would ‘discourage business investment’ in American jobs and American workers.”