President Joe Biden is taking victory laps for last year's reduced budget deficit. No one would be happier than me to see this number fall in a significant way. But the decline has nothing to do with the president's policies, and it changes little about the dangers of our fiscal situation.
According to monthly reporting by the Treasury Department, we know the budget deficit for May was $66 billion. So far, the deficit for the 2022 fiscal year is $426 billion. With four months left, this year's deficit will indeed be significantly lower than last year's, which was nearly $2.8 trillion. There's nothing like $5 trillion in COVID-19-relief spending paid for with borrowed cash to balloon a deficit!
