# US federal surplus or deficit by president, 1980–2025

Source page: https://govargus.com/indicators/deficit

Federal budget balance by fiscal year as a share of GDP. Negative is a deficit. Budgets are set by Congress; the president proposes and signs.

Latest: −5.8% (2025).
Source: Office of Management and Budget, via FRED FYFSGDA188S (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFSGDA188S). Annual data, fetched Oct 19, 2026.

Since 1980, the federal budget balance ranged from −14.5% in 2020 under Donald Trump (1st term) to 2.3% in 2000 under Bill Clinton. Of the 8 completed terms with data, the federal budget balance averaged highest under Bill Clinton, at −0.3% against −4.2% in the four years before, and lowest under Donald Trump (1st term), at −7.6% against −2.8% in the four years before.

## By presidential term

Each row is the average during the term, next to the average over the four years before it. A term's first year mostly reflects the previous administration's policies, and Congress, the Federal Reserve and the world economy move these numbers too. Govargus describes; it does not score presidents.

| President | Term | During term | 4 years before |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Donald Trump (2nd term) | 2025–present | no data | no data |
| Joe Biden | 2021–2025 | avg −5.8% | avg −7.6% |
| Donald Trump (1st term) | 2017–2021 | avg −7.6% | avg −2.8% |
| Barack Obama | 2009–2017 | avg −5.1% | avg −2.0% |
| George W. Bush | 2001–2009 | avg −2.4% | avg 1.5% |
| Bill Clinton | 1993–2001 | avg −0.3% | avg −4.2% |
| George H. W. Bush | 1989–1993 | avg −4.2% | avg −3.6% |
| Ronald Reagan | 1981–1989 | avg −4.3% | avg −2.2% |
| Jimmy Carter | 1977–1981 | avg −2.2% | avg −2.5% |

## Events that bear on this indicator

- Aug 13, 1981, law: Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. Cuts the top income tax rate from 70% to 50% and phases in broad rate cuts and indexing.
- Oct 22, 1986, law: Tax Reform Act of 1986. Broadens the tax base and lowers rates; top rate falls to 28%.
- Nov 5, 1990, law: Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. Bush signs tax increases and spending caps, breaking his "no new taxes" pledge; introduces pay-as-you-go budget rules.
- Aug 10, 1993, law: Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. Raises the top income tax rate to 39.6% and expands the EITC; passed without a single Republican vote.
- Aug 5, 1997, law: Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Spending restraint, mostly in Medicare, paired with the Taxpayer Relief Act's capital-gains cut and child tax credit.
- Jun 7, 2001, law: EGTRRA (Bush tax cuts). Broad income tax rate cuts, phased in and set to expire after 2010.
- Sep 11, 2001, shock: September 11 attacks. Followed by the wars in Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003), largely financed by borrowing.
- May 28, 2003, law: JGTRRA. Accelerates the 2001 rate cuts and cuts taxes on dividends and capital gains.
- Dec 8, 2003, law: Medicare Part D created. The Medicare Modernization Act adds an unfunded prescription-drug benefit, starting 2006.
- Oct 3, 2008, law: TARP bank rescue (EESA). Authorizes up to $700 billion to stabilize the financial system.
- Feb 17, 2009, law: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. About $800 billion in stimulus: tax cuts, aid to states, infrastructure and safety-net spending.
- Mar 23, 2010, law: Affordable Care Act signed. Medicaid expansion, subsidized insurance marketplaces and an individual mandate; main coverage provisions start in 2014.
- Dec 22, 2017, law: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Corporate rate cut from 35% to 21%, temporary individual rate cuts, and the ACA's individual-mandate penalty set to zero from 2019.
- Mar 27, 2020, law: CARES Act. About $2.2 trillion in relief: stimulus checks, expanded unemployment benefits and the Paycheck Protection Program.
- Mar 11, 2021, law: American Rescue Plan. About $1.9 trillion in relief, including a temporarily expanded child tax credit and larger ACA premium subsidies.
- Aug 16, 2022, law: Inflation Reduction Act. Clean-energy tax credits, Medicare drug-price negotiation and a corporate minimum tax.
- Jul 4, 2025, law: One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Makes the 2017 individual tax cuts permanent, adds new deductions and cuts Medicaid and SNAP spending.