Feds Borrow $4 Billion Per Day in 2022

In 2022, the federal debt shot up by $1.4 trillion as President Joe Biden and Congress approved numerous spending plans.

The Congressional Budget Office has released the final details about federal spending in 2022. They show that there was a $1.4 trillion deficit for the federal government last year and that it borrowed $82 billion in December.

“This is not a pretty picture no matter how you look at it,” Maya MacGuineas is the president of The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “There are times to borrow – like during a pandemic or major recession – and there are times where we should ratchet down the borrowing, like now when the economy is strong and inflation is hot.”

MacGuineas highlighted that the total amount of borrowing last year was over $10,000 per household and $4Billion per day.

The federal debt exceeded $31 trillion in fall.

Biden’s additional spending bills, which totaled several trillion dollars, were partly responsible for the increased debt. Although initially supported by many, the spending was opposed by Republicans as a way to combat the pandemic.

Biden claims that the deficit will be cut from $2.8 trillion down to $1.4 trillion in fiscal year 2013. Although that’s true, the $1.4 billion figure is still significantly higher than it was when Biden took office. In 2019, the deficit in the budget was less than one billion dollars.

“We need a fresh start in 2023 for how we budget, spend, and borrow,” MacGuineas said. “Members of Congress who are serious about the fiscal health of the nation should commit to passing a budget, not engaging in new borrowing, and coming up with a reasonable package of savings to help bring our debt down.”

The future of the deficit and debt looks grim if there are no changes. The Congressional Budget Office released its economic outlook for the next decade last summer and projected record high debt levels compared to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.

“CBO projects that the federal budget deficit will shrink to $1.0 trillion in 2022 (it was $2.8 trillion last year) and that the annual shortfall would average $1.6 trillion from 2023 to 2032,” CBO. “The deficit continues to decrease as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) next year as spending related to the coronavirus pandemic wanes, but then deficits increase, reaching 6.1 percent of GDP in 2032. The deficit has been greater than that only six times since 1946.”