Fact check: Senate Republican blames Democrats for U.S. debt
The U.S. is again facing a reckoning on the size of the national debt, which is approaching its legal limit. Without an increase in the debt ceiling, the country will not be able to borrow money to cover its bills. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla) blamed Democrats for the problem.
Posted — UpdatedThe U.S. is again facing a reckoning on the size of the national debt, which is approaching its legal limit.
Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott said it should be up to Democrats to solve this problem on their own.
Are Democrats alone responsible for the growth in the debt?
No. It has been a decades-long, bipartisan effort.
Presidents, parties and debt
The day President Joe Biden took office, the national debt stood at $27.7 trillion. Eight months later, it is approaching that $28.4 trillion limit. But Scott’s finger-pointing ignores how the debt got as big as it is. Thanks to spending for wars, crises and mandatory government programs, along with a series of tax cuts, the debt continued expanding throughout the post-World War II period, regardless of which party controlled the White House or Congress.
In nominal dollars, since World War II, just over 60% of the growth in the debt took place under Republican presidents, and about 40% under Democratic presidents.
Scott didn’t mention the recent Republican record on adding to the debt, so we looked it up. What we found is that from the day President Donald Trump took office to his last day, the national debt grew $7.8 trillion.
All told, before the pandemic struck, the debt had increased $3.3 trillion on Trump’s watch.
To be sure, no president has been totally responsible for the debt that accumulated during his administration. Congress writes the spending and tax bills that a president signs, and control of Congress has shifted back and forth between the parties for the past three decades.
Plus, each president’s debt record reflects laws and spending plans passed before he took office. Major commitments, such as Social Security payments, shape the country’s fiscal picture regardless of who sits in the Oval Office.
Marc Goldwein, senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a group that promotes deficit reduction, said both parties own the current debt.
"It has been produced by Democrats and Republicans, on both a partisan and bipartisan basis," Goldwein said.
We reached out to Scott’s office and didn’t hear back.
PolitiFact ruling
Scott said that "Democrats are responsible for the massive spending and debt growth."
The bottom line is both Democrats and Republicans are responsible for growth of the national debt. The debt grew by $7.8 trillion during the Trump years, in part because of bipartisan votes on COVID-19 relief and other spending, but also because of measures like the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which was backed only by Republicans.
We rate this claim Mostly False.
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