Joe Biden breaks all federal spending records

Federal spending in the first two years of his term exceeds $3.37 trillion. Biden acknowledges that he does not know what long term effects it will have on the country.

Reason has collected in an article the computation of spending that has been approved during the first two years of the presidency, in the 117th Congress, which will end in January of next year. Spending information is organized and published by the Spending Tracker website, based on estimates made by the Congressional Budget Office.

According to these data, spending that has been approved during the Biden administration exceeds 3.37 trillion dollars. The increase in spending has been so significant that it has even surpassed the last two years of Donald Trump's record-breaking presidency, with 3.28 billion dollars. Trump had to deal with the health, economic and social effects after the outbreak of the pandemic, and Biden from January 2021.

Spending plans

Joe Biden has put in place several policies that commit large amounts of spending. Thus, the American Bailout Act of 2021 involved an expenditure of 1.8 billion of dollars. This plan alone accounts for more than half of the current administration's committed spending.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Investment Act commits an additional 764.88 billion dollars. This plan foresees a year-on-year increase in spending until 2026, and from then on it will decrease until it concludes in 2031. There are other 278 billion, through 2031 alone, committed in the Pledge to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT), plus the 255.09 billion from the CHIPS Act.

Executive orders

It's not just about the laws. Joe Biden has signed numerous executive orders that carry spending. This is not new. What is unprecedented is the amount of expenditure involved in these executive orders. Specifically, and in response to questions from Republicans in Congress, the CBO estimates that these executive orders account for more than $532 billion in spending. This includes the $85 billion earmarked for college debt repayment (spending could approach $1 trillion), but especially the $300 billion for the Nutrition Assistance Program Add-on.

Increase in the last four years

It can be seen how spending has risen in recent years. It follows an upward trend, reaching 4,875 million in the first quarter of 2020. But then it shoots up to 8,896 million in the second quarter, and 7,116 plus 5,878 in the next two quarters, the last of the Trump Administration.

When Biden comes to power, he embarks on a run of exorbitant spending. In the first quarter of 2021, spending rises to $8.179 billion, and although it declines in subsequent quarters, it is at very high levels; never below $5.8 billion. Spending rises again in quarters 2 and 3 of 2022.


Biden does not know what effects it will have

President Biden is very happy with the federal spending policy, although he says we don't yet know what effects it will have:

We have approved the American Rescue Plan. Now everyone knows about it, but we have done so much that no one yet knows its effects. He is barely getting into the game. They are going to discover many things that we have already done that we have not yet been able to apply. What is most exciting is that people are beginning to feel a sense of optimism and the impact of these legislative achievements on their own lives. It will accelerate in the coming months.

These words were spoken by President Biden at a chip manufacturing plant in Bay City, Michigan.

The president may not yet know the full consequences of his own policies. But there is one that we do know about, and it is the fruit of Donald Trump and Joe Biden's public spending policy: the rise in inflation, which has reached over 9% year-on-year.