Smucker to Yellen: “I Call that Swamp Math”

Washington, D.C. —Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11), a member of the Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Ways & Means, questioned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday about the administration's false claims of deficit reduction.

Image

Watch Rep. Smucker question Sec. Yellen by clicking the image above.

The Biden administration is falsely claiming victory for "reducing the deficit." Biden's Fiscal Year 2023 Budget demonstrates that deficits will remain over $1 trillion annually over the next decade, with the deficit growing nearly every year. Biden is lying to the American people and justifying that lie by using swamp math – it is unconscionable.

Selected excerpts of Rep. Smucker's questioning:

Smucker: "…the year after COVID [spending], the first year of the budget that we're here discussing today is higher than the deficit was before when COVID hit, and then it goes up on an upward trajectory every single year with one slight exception there during this budget. How can you claim that you're reducing deficits? Or how can the Biden administration claim that deficits are being reduced in this ten-year budget?"

Yellen: "Well, it's a reduction relative to what we inherited."

Smucker: "So there's not a real reduction in the deficit?"

Yellen: "Well, obviously, the baseline does have deficits rising, but the proposals that we've made would…"

Smucker: "So we're not accomplishing the goal of reducing the deficit in any way in this budget?"

Yellen: "We've not proposed policies which would lead to greater deficits. And in the next ten-year period…"

Smucker: "But we're leading to greater deficits every year…I'd call that swamp math. You go outside the beltway one step, and there is no one in America who will believe that the Biden administration is reducing deficits. It's harmful to the future of the country. And I don't understand how you can be claiming that deficits are being reduced when it obviously is not the case."

…

Smucker: "Do you believe that raising the corporate tax rate will help lower the price of food?"

Yellen: "I do not think it will raise the price of food."

Smucker: "Do you believe that raising taxes on fossil fuel production will lower the record high gas prices?"

Yellen: "Over the medium term, the way we lower them is to address climate change and to switch to renewables."

Reflecting on Yellen's answer about taxing fossil fuels, Smucker said: "President Biden and Secretary Yellen are out of touch with the daily struggles of Americans. Biden's war on American-made energy is clear in their proposals to raise taxes on energy producers. As gas prices soar higher and higher, above $5 a gallon, the only plan the Biden administration wants to talk about is the "switch to renewables." That does nothing to help Americans family choosing between purchasing gas or groceries. We need to be increase domestic energy production and stop Biden's war on energy."

Yellen's appearance at the House Committee on Ways & Means meeting comes one week after her admission that "I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take."

# # #