Pence slams Biden over federal deficit heading back to $2 trillion
Mabinty Quarshie
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Former Vice President and Republican presidential candidate Mike Pence castigated President Joe Biden‘s economic record, specifically the growing federal deficit, on Labor Day.
“On this Labor Day, we honor the backbone of our Nation — the hard-working men and women of this country who are the most faith-filled, freedom-loving, and idealistic people the world has ever known,” Pence said in a statement. “Unfortunately, Joe Biden continues to weaken this country at home and abroad with runaway spending.”
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Pence’s statement references a Washington Post article on Sunday on the U.S. deficit exploding even as the economy continues to grow. The deficit is the amount by which federal spending exceeds revenues.
After historic federal spending in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the deficit decreased to $1 trillion in 2022. But by Sept. 30, when the fiscal year ends, the deficit will have shot back up to roughly $2 trillion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. As Congress returns to Capitol Hill this month, the deficit will surely be a topic as leaders seek to fund the government past the Sept. 30 deadline. Pence, a former member of Congress, slammed the news of the deficit nearly doubling in 2023.
“Our economy remains on a downward spiral with an exploding federal deficit driving inflation and erasing wage gains. Americans deserve better than what Washington, D.C., is offering and Americans deserve a government as good as its people,” Pence said. “That’s why I’m pledging to you that when I am elected President, we will unleash the ingenuity of the American worker and tackle the unsustainable debt and deficit issues facing our Nation.”
Last month, the former vice president unveiled his economic policy to end inflation, which includes slashing the Environmental Protection Agency, immediately freezing nondefense spending, and defunding the IRS, among other proposals. Pence is set to deliver a speech on populism versus conservatism on Wednesday afternoon at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. In the speech, he will expound upon the threat of populism when it is unmoored from conservative principles and explain the choice Republicans and the nation must face moving forward, according to a campaign email sent to reporters.
Pence has made stops in New Hampshire, home to the critical first primary of the GOP nominating schedule next year, after the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15. Most of the 2024 GOP field is banking on winning either Iowa’s or New Hampshire’s nominating contests to prove the viability of their campaigns and establish dominant momentum as the battle for the presidential nomination.
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Pence, former President Donald Trump‘s running mate-turned-rival, is seeking to defeat his one-time boss to become the GOP’s next standard-bearer. But it will be hard to unseat Trump in the primary race when Trump currently polls at 53.6% in a RealClearPolitics poll average, while Pence garners 4.6% support.
The former vice president did have strong traction during last week’s Republican presidential primary debate, where he showed a more combative persona onstage.