The COVID-triggered recession of 2020 lasted two months, starting in February and ending in March, with the federal government spending trillions of dollars to stimulate the economy in the wake of a global pandemic.
After losing almost 22 million jobs in two months due to government-imposed lockdowns, the economy recovered 12.5 million jobs—57% of the jobs lost in the pandemic—nine months later, when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were inaugurated in January 2021.
It would take another 17 months of the Biden-Harris administration before nonfarm employment reached the same level as it did under the peak that was reached in February 2020.
Of note to this committee, over that period, the Biden-Harris administration embarked on an unprecedented peacetime spending binge in a bid to remake the American economy. This spending spree harmed working class Americans, enriched special interests, put the American dream at risk for our young, sparked the worst inflation seen in 45 years, and invited and then subsidized more than 10 million illegal aliens into our nation, who took the jobs of American workers.
In addition to elevated levels of federal spending, the Biden-Harris administration presided over the passage of four laws that together amount to an additional $1.6 trillion in federal spending, mostly on climate initiatives and infrastructure, with some $551 billion in tax credits for electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels, and other green energy efforts. Former President Donald Trump calls this package the “Green New Scam.” In addition, Biden-Harris executive actions cost taxpayers an additional $2 trillion—all without Congressional approval (U.S. House Budget Committee, 2024).