PolitiFact

Mike Pence stated on March 24, 2023 in an interview with Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo:

“We have a national debt the size of our nation’s economy for the first time since World War II.”

By Louis Jacobson• March 30, 2023

Nikki Haley stated on June 28, 2021 in a Facebook post:

“The national debt is now bigger than our economy. That hasn’t happened since World War Two – and we’re in peacetime. Joe Biden is digging a hole America can never fill.”

By Jason Asenso, Louis Jacobson• July 2, 2021

Rob Portman stated on August 10, 2011 in a news release:

U.S. debt is "now equal to 100 percent of the GDP."

By Stephen Koff• August 18, 2011

Ted Cruz stated on August 28, 2012 in his speech to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.:

Says our national debt is greater than our gross domestic product.

By W. Gardner Selby• August 29, 2012

Bob McDonnell stated on May 20, 2011 in an interview.:

For more than 30 years after World War II, there was a steady reduction in U.S. debt as a percentage of gross domestic product.

By Sean Gorman• May 25, 2011

Judd Gregg stated on March 25, 2009 in a Fox News interview:

Obama's budget plan would "take national debt up to about 80 percent of gross national product. ... Historically, it's been about 40 percent."

By Robert Farley• March 26, 2009

John Boehner stated on January 05, 2011 in a speech in the House of Representatives:

"Our spending has caught up with us, and our debt soon will eclipse the entire size of our national economy."

By Stephen Koff• January 10, 2011

Matt Miller stated on February 24, 2011 in a column in the Washington Post:

Says Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget "roadmap … doesn't balance the budget until the 2060s and … adds an unthinkable $62 trillion to the national debt between now and then."

By Louis Jacobson• March 3, 2011

Eric Hovde stated on March 04, 2024 in Campaign video:

“Since the end of the 2020 fiscal year, President Biden and Senator Baldwin have added over $7.3 trillion of debt, more than the first 228 years of our nation’s history combined.”

By Hope Karnopp• March 14, 2024

Bob McDonnell stated on February 24, 2012 in a symposium.:

President Obama's "budget would call for about $25 trillion in debt by the end of his term, if he was re-elected."

By Sean Gorman• March 5, 2012

Ron Johnson stated on July 25, 2011 in a television interview:

"The federal government is spending 25 percent of our entire economy versus 100 years ago we spent only 2 percent."

By Dave Umhoefer• July 31, 2011

Chip Rogers stated on August 19, 2010 in a campaign flyer:

"Congress and President Obama have accumulated more debt since he took office than the total amount of debt accumulated during the first 200 years of the United States existence."

By Willoughby Mariano• September 1, 2010

Jim Renacci stated on March 29, 2011 in a video posted to YouTube:

The federal debt is more than $14 trillion, "almost equal to the size of our entire economy," and "every child born today inherits a $45,000 share of the national debt before they take their first breath."

By Sabrina Eaton• May 5, 2011

Sean Duffy stated on May 03, 2014 in an interview:

"Explosive growth in Medicare" is the reason federal deficit spending is predicted to top $1 trillion again after falling to $600 billion annually.

By Dave Umhoefer• May 11, 2014

Hillary Clinton stated on August 15, 2016 in a campaign speech in Scranton, Pa. :

Says her campaign platform includes the "biggest investment in new, good-paying jobs since World War II."

By Lauren Carroll• August 17, 2016

Arianna Huffington stated on July 24, 2011 in a roundtable segment on ABC's "This Week with Christiane Amanpour":

"Most countries have no debt ceiling."

By Louis Jacobson• July 25, 2011

Gerry Connolly stated on June 05, 2012 in a floor speech.:

Ronald Reagan "raised taxes in 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987."

By Nancy Madsen• June 25, 2012

Rodney Frelinghuysen stated on May 25, 2012 in an e-mail newsletter:

"The U.S. is borrowing approximately $2.52 for every $1 of economic growth so far in 2012."

By Erin O'Neill• June 3, 2012

Jim Jordan stated on January 20, 2011 in a speech to the Heritage Foundation:

"Our debt to GDP ratios, our deficit to GDP ratios are quickly approaching the countries we have been reading about for the last year and a half. We are not far behind Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain and all these countries we have been reading about."

By Sabrina Eaton• February 16, 2011

The Freedom Project stated on October 19, 2009 in a press release:

"Democrats rang up a $1.42 trillion budget deficit in 2009 — the single largest in American history."

By Catharine Richert• October 22, 2009

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