President Joe Biden highlighted deficit reduction in remarks noting that the government will pay down the national debt this quarter for the first time in six years.
In remarks Wednesday, Biden stressed how strong job gains have increased total incomes and led to additional tax revenues that have improved the government’s balance sheet.
“This week my administration released new information that we're on track to cut the federal deficit by another, another $1.5 trillion by the end of this fiscal year, the biggest decline in a single year ever in American history," Biden said.
The Treasury Department estimates that this fiscal year’s budget deficit will decline $1.5 trillion.
That decrease marks an improvement from initial forecasts and would likely put the annual deficit below $1.3 trillion.
The White House has been touting reducing the federal deficit amid concerns the Biden administration's policies are leading to inflation. White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded to concerns expressed by Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who has stood in the way of a few key pieces of legislation.
"The President is a huge advocate for deficit reduction," Psaki said. "He actually reduced the deficit. We reduced the deficit last year by $300 billion on his watch -- something that people often forget. And, certainly, his advocacy for -- to making the tax system more fair, which has been part of the reconciliation proposal and process, would help do that as well."
