Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) claimed on Friday that the federal budget deficit has "been cut in half" under Obama.
Budget figures provided by the White House show that the deficit nearly tripled from 2008 to 2009, when Obama took office, and has remained above $1 trillion since then, though 2013 projections are slightly lower.
The country has seen higher budget deficits during every year of Obama’s presidency than it did during any of his predecessor’s eight years in office.
The White House provides the following deficit numbers:
2005: $318 billion
2006: $248 billion
2007: $161 billion
2008: $459 billion
2009: $1.41 trillion
2010: $1.29 trillion
2011: $1.3 trillion
2012: $1.09 trillion
2013 (projected): $973 billion
Boxer made her remarks on the House floor on Friday:
If you listen to the Republicans, you'd that this deficit has gone up under President Obama. President Obama inherited a $1.2 trillion deficit. It’s now down -- it's been cut in half. It's been cut in half. But if you listen to them, you'd think that, oh my God, everything is awful. I just took a look at the charts. I took a look at deficits under Democratic and Republican presidents. I am so proud to be a Democrat.
It was not clear whether or not Boxer was looking at this chart:
