evidence: During President Biden’s first two years in office, the federal deficit shrank by $1.7 trillion dollars. It's a point he has bragged about repeatedly in recent months, and attributed to his policies effectively steering the country beyond the COVID-19 shutdowns and stabilizing the economy. [...] "And even with what we’ve done—unlike the last President—in my first two years, all this stuff—guess what? I cut the deficit $1.7 trillion," Biden said. "Here’s the bottom line: My economic plan is working. It’s reducing the deficit." [...] White House officials point out that Biden’s proposed budget would reduce the deficit by an additional $2.5 billion by increasing the corporate tax rate and requiring that the wealthiest 0.01% of Americans pay at least a 25% tax rate. But that doesn’t have the votes in Congress, and Republicans haven’t come to the table to offer a plan of their own for cutting the deficit. Administration officials also note that the deficit is influenced by various factors. "Deficits from year to year can be volatile," said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in response to a question from TIME. "The President has a real plan — as we’ve laid out multiple times — to reduce the deficit, and we don’t see Republicans having a real plan."