I almost didn’t believe this so I looked it up myself … yes, Donald Trump and the Republican Congress have reduced the federal debt by more than $101 billion. Actually, it’s $101,258,995,801.

No, this isn’t “fake news” – it’s right there from treasurydirect.gov.

For deficit and debt hawks, this is a milestone, especially with what we’ve seen during the last two decades.

Here are the historical federal debt accumulations in actual dollars, based on the federal data:

• Ronald Reagan and Democrats controlling the House and Democrats and Republicans controlling the Senate accumulating $1.883 trillion during Reagan’s eight years.
• George H.W. Bush and Democrats controlling the House and Senate accumulated $1.483 trillion of debt in four years.
• Bill Clinton and Democrats and Republicans controlling the House and Senate accumulated $1.553 trillion in debt in eight years.
• George W. Bush and both Republicans and Democrats controlling the House and the Senate accumulated $4.89 trillion during eight years.
• Barack Obama and Democrats and Republicans controlling the House and Senate accumulated $9.331 trillion in debt.
• Donald Trump and GOP House and Senate, between Jan. 20, and March 16, 2017, have lowered the federal debt by $101 billion.

The debt stands at nearly $20 trillion. The interest on that debt is $270 billion annually — paid out to people that own treasury bonds (they tend to be affluent, so this is a direct payment — and massive line item in the budget — going directly to “the rich”) and foreign governments. There is much, much more work to be done. But this is a positive start.

Data via treasurydirect.gov and the Congressional Budget office.