Recent comments from Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts are drawing attention online after he said the federal deficit has decreased by 11%. The claim has sparked debate among viewers, with some questioning how the figure was calculated. Yet, it seems people didn’t believe the Senator too much, claiming he’s doing some “MAGA math,” just like Trump.
The original post comes from Senator Ricketts’ X account, which you can check here, where he claims the following:
Our federal spending deficit is 11% lower than this time last year. We’re finally making progress and pushing back on wasteful spending.
While this should be taken as good news, it seems other Redditors did the right math and showed that Senator Ricketts’ numbers weren’t as accurate as he thought.
According to one user in the Reddit thread, this year’s deficit was actually higher than last year’s. They claim that in March 2026 alone, the deficit was of $249 million, 2% higher than in March 2025. Yet, for some reason, Senator Ricketts mentioned that the deficit decreased by 11%, which, for some, doesn’t add up.
The same user who did the math also claims that spending in March 2026 was higher than last year’s, saying the government spent a total of $24 billion last month alone.
In any case, while this information should have made people happy, it seems it had the opposite effect, sparking backlash against Senator Ricketts.
Nebraska Residents Are Not Buying Senator Ricketts Recent Claims
The news shared by Ricketts angered a few Redditors who continue to believe that the current administration is just throwing out random numbers without any proper evidence or actual math.
“Apparently, he’s using the same math system as Trump. The deficit went up 2%, which in MAGA-speak means it went down 11%.“
“Me when I use MAGA Math.”
Others also decided to take a shot at the whole Trump vs. Biden topic, throwing in the ex-president’s name into the conversation, which many backed up in the comments.
“But is it 11% lower than when Biden was president? Trump was president last year!“
It is also worth noting that others have backed up Rickett’s claims, saying he’s right about the 11% figure, which would certainly represent a lower spending deficit if true. Still, as many say, the deficit is still extremely high and could continue to affect Americans.
