The budget-cutting hoopla at the start of the Trump administration hasn’t amounted to much. The deficit is still going up
On the federal budget front, things aren’t going the way they were supposed to since President Trump was inaugurated. Fact is, things are going exactly the opposite of the way they were supposed to. Federal debt is going up, not down the way Trump promised it would.
Fox Business reports that the federal budget deficit grew by $92 billion over the last fiscal year and calls it the third largest deficit in history, exceeded only by the Covid-induced deficits created by spending in 2020 and 2021. The Committee for a Responsible Budget reports that the federal deficit for July 2025, at $289 billion, was $45 billion higher than it was in July 2024.
As to future deficits, Fox Business reports that Trump’s recently passed “Big Beautiful Bill” will increase the total federal debt by trillions of dollars.
These numbers are occurring even as the U.S. Treasury has been collecting funds through Trump’s tariff increases. Indeed, the White House has taken note of a report from the Congressional Budget Office, which expects those tariff revenues, if they remain at present levels, to make a significant dent in U.S. debt over the coming years.
But … given the quirkiness of Trump’s tariff plans, plus the legal challenges they have to face, the CBO’s report has to be subjected to a lot of caveats, including how tariff-generated economic conditions (inflation created by higher prices for imported goods comes immediately to mind) could affect the size of the federal deficits in coming years.
For a current example, consider that the prospect of a coming “farmaggedon” created by tariff policies could require a federal bailout similar to the one Trump had to order during his first term, when his “trade war” with China nearly ruined our country’s ag economy. That one cost the U.S. Treasury nearly $30 billion.
This was not the rhetorical script that the GOP prepared during last year’s campaign and the early stages of the Trump presidency.
That flawed script, promising quick federal debt relief, was full of high-profile government layoffs and cuts in departmental budgets. Given the campaign rhetoric promising massive cuts in federal spending with the intent of reducing federal debt, all that showmanship – and the giddiness that went with it – was a natural follow-up in the early days of the Trump administration. Photos of hatchet-man-in-chief Elon Musk hopping about with that big chain saw symbolizing his intent to cut, cut, cut federal spending added to the post-inaugural merriment.
It must have been fun while it lasted, but the aftermath has been considerably more sobering.
John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Republish with permission.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
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