U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in televised remarks on 6–7 July that “the Democratic Party blew out the deficit in 2020,” asserting that “Team Biden was blowing out the deficit” before President Joe Biden took office. The comments drew immediate pushback because the record $3.1 trillion deficit was posted in the 2020 fiscal year, when Donald Trump was president and pandemic-related spending drove borrowing to its highest level on record. Bessent used the appearance to frame the administration’s fiscal stance, contending that “we don’t have a tax-collection problem; we have a spending problem,” and arguing that faster economic growth would ease budget pressures. He said the Treasury is “trying to get spending under control” while pursuing policies aimed at lifting the economy’s long-term growth trajectory.