How does Biden-era deficit spending compare to deficits under previous presidents (Trump, Obama)?
Executive summary
Analyses from fiscal watchdogs and news outlets show that Biden-era borrowing over his term was materially less than borrowing under Donald Trump’s four years, but COVID-era emergency spending and policy choices complicate direct comparisons (CRFB: Biden ~$4.3–4.9T vs. Trump ~$8.4–8.6T in new borrowing; CBO and other trackers factor in interest and legislative offsets) [1] [2] [3]. Different outlets and groups use different windows and exclusions (e.g., exclude COVID relief) — meaning headline totals reflect methodology as much as policy [2] [1].
1. How the headline numbers are built — methodology matters
Counting “debt added under a president” depends on choices: whether you sum deficits in fiscal years that overlap presidencies, include emergency COVID relief, count tax cuts or spending increases as ten‑year scores, or add projected interest. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) and news outlets report Trump-era actions as adding roughly $8.4T in borrowing and Biden-era actions as roughly $4.3T (with alternative CRFB/CBO presentations putting Biden’s enacted legislative increase at about $4.8–4.9T over ten years), showing the same data can produce different headline totals depending on what’s included [1] [3] [4].
2. Trump vs. Biden by the popular analyses: Trump roughly double Biden
Multiple analyses cited in the press conclude Trump’s fiscal footprint was larger: CRFB’s tally and reporting by The Hill and Axios put Trump’s net borrowing at about $8.4T versus about $4.3–4.9T for Biden — roughly twice as much in CRFB’s comparison [3] [1] [2]. Outlets note much of Trump’s increase reflected pandemic-era relief and tax changes; likewise, a share of Biden’s numbers reflect pandemic-era carryover costs and subsequent legislation [2] [1].
3. The COVID effect skews every comparison
Both presidents’ tallies are heavily shaped by the pandemic response. If COVID relief is excluded from the totals, CRFB’s breakdown narrows substantially — one reporting line shows Trump’s non‑COVID contribution falls and Biden’s non‑COVID share also shrinks, changing the apparent gap [2] [1]. Reporters and analysts warn that excluding or including pandemic measures is a normative choice, not a neutral arithmetic one [2].
4. What official scorers like CBO add (or subtract)
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a central arbiter for projecting legislative cost or savings; the House Budget Committee points to CBO scoring that Biden’s enacted legislation increased deficit projections by about $4.8T over ten years, a different framing than simple year‑by‑year Treasury deficits on a president’s watch [4]. That underlines that “debt added” can mean immediate borrowing recorded in Treasury data or projected ten‑year budgetary effects scored by CBO — two different metrics [4].
5. Media tallies and Treasury totals: same story, different lenses
Consumer-facing trackers and outlets (Investopedia, The Balance, ConsumerAffairs) use Treasury numbers to report total debt growth during presidencies — for example, those sources report Biden-era debt increases in the single‑digit trillions and show Trump’s increase larger, with earlier presidents like Obama or Bush large in absolute terms too — but the exact dollar amounts differ across outlets based on endpoints and metrics chosen [5] [6] [7].
6. Political framing and implicit agendas to watch for
Partisan actors and committees frame similar figures very differently. House Budget Committee releases contest CRFB interpretations and emphasize different CBO numbers to support a political point [4] [8]. Fiscal watchdogs like CRFB emphasize long‑run ten‑year scoring; congressional Republicans often highlight shorter‑term Treasury deficits — both are valid measures but serve different narratives [1] [4].
7. Bottom line for readers
Available reporting consistently shows Trump-era policies were associated with more borrowing in the headline, commonly about twice Biden’s, but the exact gap depends on whether analysts include COVID relief, count ten‑year scored costs, or focus on actual Treasury deficits in fiscal years [3] [1] [2]. For any single number, check the methodology: it often tells you more about the point being made than the raw fiscal reality [1] [4].
Limitations: sources provided do not include the full CBO datasets, Treasury daily debt-by‑president spreadsheets, or a unanimous, single government tally that maps perfectly to “debt added by president”; the cited analyses reflect differing choices about time frames and inclusions [4] [1] [3].