United States of America

US Deficit Hits Record $432B in July

Is Trump torching the budget or are Democrats ignoring entitlement math?

14 hours ago·Updated 1 hour ago

Story

Above: The U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, DC, on June 17. Image credit: Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Spin

Democratic narrative

Trump's tax giveaways and tariff refunds are torching the budget while ICE detention camps get more cash than the entire federal prison system. Interest payments now beat defense and Medicare combined. The expansion of the debt and deficit under Trump has been reckless and unprecedented in a total contradiction of Republicanism's supposed fiscal conservatism.

Dean Blundell on Substack Los Angeles Times

Republican narrative

One cannot ignore that that Medicare and Social Security drove July's outlays, not partisan moves. Tariff refunds only happened because courts struck down the policy, and calendar quirks shifted billions of dollars of payments into July artificially. Democrats crying foul over deficits neglect to mention that entitlements are America's fiscal albatross.

FOX News The Washington Times