Republican hysteria over the federal deficit is a common talking point during Democratic administrations, but always seems to wane when a Republican is in the White House.
Former President Donald Trump received unanimous praise from Republican lawmakers for the strength of the economy he inherited. This is despite overseeing the third-largest deficit increase of any President in American history. What's more, the national debt skyrocketed by 36 percent to a whopping $27 trillion, despite Trump's promise to completely eliminate it in eight years.
One of the main drivers of Trump's deficit increase was his 2017 tax bill, which enjoyed widespread Republican support in both chambers of Congress.
Now, President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are facing Republican backlash for ambitious spending bills like the American Rescue Plan, passed earlier this year, and the twin infrastructure bills still being considered by Congress.
Republican Senator Rick Scott continued these talking points in a recent interview with Bret Baier of the conservative Fox News network.
But Baier didn't let the hypocrisy go unchecked.
Scott told Baier:
"Let's don't go borrow more money because let's look what happened with inflation. Gas prices are up a buck in a year. Food prices are up. What's it caused by? Government spending that's not paid for."
But the anchor responded with a reminder:
"Senator, you're talking a lot about deficit and debt, a lot of Republicans are, but it wasn't that way under the Trump administration. In fact, if you look at the numbers, the debt went up at the end of fiscal 2020. $26.9 trillion. The Trump administration added $6.7 trillion to the debt ... understanding COVID had a big role in that, but there's not a great track record for Republicans recently to tout themselves as deficit/debt hawks, and now to be doing it here."
Scott insisted he wasn't a culprit of such hypocrisy, emphasizing his record as governor of Florida and claiming he'd been working hard in the Senate to do the same.
People weren't buying it.
People were divided on whether Baier deserved credit for calling the Senator out.
Nevertheless, Republican attacks over the deficit don't show signs of subsiding.
