Index/Topics/COVID-19 Recession

COVID-19 Recession

The COVID-19 recession and emergency spending in 2020 widened deficits

Fact-Checks

5 results

Jan 19, 2026

Has the national debt decreased under trump

The national debt did not decrease under President Donald Trump; it rose materially during his term, by roughly $7.8 trillion on gross debt measures and by several trillion on other commonly used metr...

Jan 16, 2026

How much did debt held by the public change during Trump’s first term versus gross federal debt?

Debt held by the public rose by about $7.2 trillion over Donald Trump’s first four-year term, while gross federal (or gross national) debt rose roughly $7.8 trillion over the same period . Those headl...

Jan 9, 2026

What were annual CPI inflation rates during the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations?

A clear numerical answer: using year‑over‑year CPI changes averaged across each president’s term, Barack Obama’s administration saw low average inflation (~1.46%), Donald Trump’s first term averaged r...

Jan 20, 2026

Which specific Medicare rules or waivers did the Trump administration change between 2017 and 2020?

Between 2017 and 2020 the Trump administration pursued a mix of executive orders, finalized regulations and interim rules that reshaped Medicare policy largely by promoting Medicare Advantage (MA) pla...

Jan 8, 2026

How did Trump's policies affect the COVID-19 death toll in the United States compared to other countries?

The balance of peer-reviewed panels and investigative reviews finds that U.S. outcomes in 2020–21 were substantially worse than comparable wealthy countries and that policy choices during the Trump ad...