evidence: If Your Time is short • Federal deficit projections for 2022 range from $1.5 trillion to $1.7 trillion, broadly in line with what Yellen said. [...] Often, administration officials cite today’s historically low unemployment rate. On occasion, they’ve touted progress on reducing the federal deficit. During an appearance on NBC’s "Meet the Press," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, "We've cut the deficit by a record $1.5 trillion this year." [...] Indeed, the deficit projected for 2022, just over $1 trillion, is a bit larger, but roughly in line with the deficit from 2019, the last prepandemic year, which was just under $1 trillion. So someone could just as easily say that the Biden administration has overseen a return to normalcy in budget deficits rather than set new records for deficit reduction.