WaPo Fact Checker Torpedoes Bogus Biden Debt Limit Talking Points

In His Demands To Raise The Debt Ceiling Without Any Fiscal Reform, ‘Biden’s Stance Is Pushing Against The Tide Of History’

“President Biden has pushed for an increase or suspension of the debt limit without any conditions attached…. Biden consistently says he wants to haggle over the 2024 federal budget without a link to the debt ceiling. Biden’s stance is pushing against the tide of history.” (“The Truth About The National Debt Ceiling,” The Washington Post, 5/03/2023)

• “Within 15 years of the debt ceiling being established in 1939, members of Congress began to use the must-pass debt ceiling increase as leverage to force concessions from the executive branch, according to a 1993 study of the politics of the debt limit by Linda K. Kowalcky and Lance T. LeLoup in Public Administration Review.” (“The Truth About The National Debt Ceiling,” The Washington Post, 5/03/2023)

• “In 1953, Republicans blocked an increase requested by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, also a Republican. The next year, with Democrats in control of the Senate, Harry F. Byrd of Virginia, who then chaired the Senate Finance Committee, was concerned that Eisenhower’s goal of building a national highway system would add to the debt accumulated during World War II. Eisenhower asserted that he had ‘moved promptly and vigorously’ to cut spending but still needed the debt limit raised to pay outstanding bills. Byrd was not satisfied. He demanded more cuts in exchange for a scaled-back debt-limit increase that Eisenhower finally obtained from Congress.” (“The Truth About The National Debt Ceiling,” The Washington Post, 5/03/2023)

• “In the 1970s, lawmakers — primarily Democrats — began to offer amendments to the debt ceiling that had little to do with government finances, including suspending U.S. bombing in Cambodia or bolstering Social Security, the study said. A pattern soon developed, with lawmakers in each party generally supporting a debt ceiling increase only if the president was from the same party.” (“The Truth About The National Debt Ceiling,” The Washington Post, 5/03/2023)

• “In 2006, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) gave a speech on the Senate floor, saying he would refuse to approve a debt-limit increase requested by a Republican president, George W. Bush, without a plan to reduce the budget deficit.” (“The Truth About The National Debt Ceiling,” The Washington Post, 5/03/2023)

Biden Himself Once Considered It Completely Reasonable To Use The Need To Increase The Debt Limit As ‘A Protest Of The Policies That Have Brought Us To This Point’

THEN-SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-DE), 2006: “The tsunami of debt created by the policies of this administration has to go somewhere. … But as the rest of the world copes with the waves of U.S. debt, we are now all in the same leaky boat. There is just so much of our debt other nations want to hold. The more of it they accumulate, the closer we are to the day when they will not want any more. When that happens, slowly or rapidly, our interest rates will go up, the value of their U.S. bonds will drop, and we will all have big problems. We need both more awareness, and more understanding, of this fundamental threat to our economic well being and the global economy. But the roots of that threat lie in the disastrous policies of this administration. Because this massive accumulation of debt was predicted, because it was foreseeable, because it was unnecessary, because it was the result of willful and reckless disregard for the warnings that were given and for the fundamentals of economic management, I am voting against the debt limit increase. In the 5 years he has been in office, President Bush has added more to our foreign debt that the 42 Presidents before him. … But he refused to take responsibility for his policies. He refused to admit that a changed world demanded a change of course. His refusal has pushed us deeper and deeper into the hole. … My vote against the debt limit increase cannot change the fact that we have incurred this debt already, and will no doubt incur more. It is a statement that I refuse to be associated with the policies that brought us to this point.” (Sen. Biden, Congressional Record, S2239-2240, 3/16/2006)

BIDEN, 2004: “I was not able to participate in today’s debate and vote on the extension of the national debt limit. I was attending the funeral of a great civil rights leader in Delaware, Jane E. Mitchell. Had I been here to vote, Mr. President, I would have cast a symbolic vote against an extension of the debt limit. Today’s fiscal mess, the transformation of historic surpluses into record deficits, is not an accident. It is the inevitable outcome of policies that consistently ignored evidence and experience. When we launched out on a course of tax cutting, with expanding domestic and international obligations and responsibilities, many of us in Congress argued that we could not afford to do everything, that we needed a fiscal policy that matched our revenues with our expenditures. … We are here today because that advice was ignored, those hard choices were ducked, and the bill for our decisions will be sent to our children and grandchildren, in the form of the additional debt we will authorize today. It did not have to be this way, Mr. President. In the next Congress, the threat of massive deficits, which have made us increasingly dependent of foreign lenders to stay afloat, will still be with us. My symbolic vote against raising the debt limit would have been a protest of the policies that have brought us to this point, and a demand that we change course.” (Sen. Biden, Congressional Record, S11418, 11/17/2004)

In Fact, 7 Of The Last 10 Debt Limit Increases, Including All Three During The Previous Administration, Were Enacted As Part Of Larger Fiscal Legislation And Were Not Standalone Increases

Since 2011, the debt limit has been raised 10 times, and 7 of those were attached to larger piece of fiscal legislation. (Tables 2 & 3, “Votes on Measures to Adjust the Statutory Debt Limit, 1978 to Present,” Congressional Research Service, R41814, 1/06/2022)

• During the previous administration, three debt limit increases were enacted, and all three were part of larger budgetary legislation. (Tables 2 & 3, “Votes on Measures to Adjust the Statutory Debt Limit, 1978 to Present,” Congressional Research Service, R41814, 1/06/2022)

Biden’s White House Has Dishonestly Used ‘Made-Up Math’ To Falsely Claim House Republicans Are Trying To Cut Veterans’ Benefits

“As soon as House Republicans narrowly approved a bill that would raise the national debt ceiling while squeezing federal spending, the Biden administration rolled out news releases with specifics on what supposedly would happen to veterans’ benefits if the bill were enacted. A left-leaning veterans group, VoteVets, immediately launched ads using the administration statistics.” (“White House Touts Illusory ‘VA Cuts’ As GOP Ducks Budget Specifics,” The Washington Post, 5/04/2023)

“The administration carefully laid the groundwork for the attack. On April 21, the Department of Veterans Affairs issued a news release warning of the bill’s impact, with specific numbers … The specific numbers used by the White House give an illusion of accuracy to made-up math.” (“White House Touts Illusory ‘VA Cuts’ As GOP Ducks Budget Specifics,” The Washington Post, 5/04/2023)

“The White House acts as if the numbers it conjured up are real, when in fact veterans’ benefits are unlikely to be cut, especially at such magnitudes.” (“White House Touts Illusory ‘VA Cuts’ As GOP Ducks Budget Specifics,” The Washington Post, 5/04/2023)

• “There’s no logical reason, except potent politics, for why the White House would take Republican lawmakers at their word that they would not touch defense spending but ignore similar assurances on veterans spending. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, veterans’ health spending has soared with bipartisan support…. In other words, it would be highly unlikely for Republicans to consider cutting veterans funding.” (“White House Touts Illusory ‘VA Cuts’ As GOP Ducks Budget Specifics,” The Washington Post, 5/04/2023)

Biden Has Repeatedly And Falsely Claimed That His Administration Has Reduced The Deficit, When In Fact ‘The Data Shows The Deficit Picture Has Worsened Under Biden’ And ‘Biden Has Enacted Legislation That Will Require The Federal Government To Borrow Even More’

“After releasing a video on Tuesday announcing that he was running for reelection, the president addressed union leaders and bragged about his record on deficit reduction. It’s an important talking point for him as he faces off against House Republicans who are demanding steep reductions in government spending in exchange for a vote to raise the nation’s debt limit…. But, as we have documented before, Biden’s talking point is highly misleading — worthy of Three Pinocchios. Yet he keeps saying it over and over. By our count, at least 30 times since June he’s taken credit for reducing the budget deficit by $1.7 trillion.” (“Biden’s Misleading Deficit Claim Earns Him A Bottomless Pinocchio,” The Washington Post, 4/28/2023)

“Biden gets his $1.7 trillion figure by comparing the deficit in fiscal year 2020 ($3.132 trillion) with the deficit in fiscal year 2022 ($1.375 trillion)…. Here’s the rub: The Congressional Budget Office, the official scorekeeper, in February 2021 already estimated the budget deficit would fall dramatically in fiscal 2021 and 2022 because emergency pandemic spending would lapse. The combined 2021 and 2022 budget deficits were projected by the CBO in 2021 to be $3.31 trillion. In November, the CBO said the combined deficits were in fact $4.15 trillion. What happened? Biden enacted additional pandemic relief funds and other new policies … All told, in those two years Biden increased the national debt about $850 billion more than originally projected.” (“Biden’s Misleading Deficit Claim Earns Him A Bottomless Pinocchio,” The Washington Post, 4/28/2023)

“When the 2022 fiscal year ended at the end of September, the deficit turned out to be 5.5 percent of GDP in 2022, even higher than the CBO projection at the start of 2021. In other words, again the data shows the deficit picture has worsened under Biden.” (“Biden’s Misleading Deficit Claim Earns Him A Bottomless Pinocchio,” The Washington Post, 4/28/2023)

“Moreover, going forward, Biden has enacted legislation that will require the federal government to borrow even more …” (“Biden’s Misleading Deficit Claim Earns Him A Bottomless Pinocchio,” The Washington Post, 4/28/2023)