Commentary 
Recently, the Administration started taking a victory lap on deficit reduction. Of course, the deficit remains the bully-pulpit of fiscal conservatives, so going into a midterm election, it is not surprising to see it used for political advantage.
In remarks May 4, President Joe Biden cited reductions during his presidency:
“The bottom line is the deficit went up every year under my predecessor, before the pandemic and during the pandemic. And it’s gone down both years since I’ve been here–period. That’s–they’re the facts.
“And why is it important? Because bringing down the deficit is one way to ease inflationary pressures in an economy where a consequence of a war and gas prices and oil and food and–it all–it’s just a different world right this moment because of Ukraine and Russia. We reduce federal borrowing and we help combat inflation….