On Thursday, President Joe Biden fired the opening shot in his budget negotiations with congressional Republicans stating that he is prepared to sit down with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and go through their spending plans line by line.
Biden’s Budget Plan Worth $6.9 Trillion Calls GOP A Misguided Plan For 2024 (PHOTO: USA Today)
President Biden Defends His $6.9 Trillion Budget Proposal
Biden’s budget plan urged the head of the House GOP, who has yet to unveil his own budget proposition, during a campaign-style event in Philadelphia. The White House released its proposed budget for the coming year and after Biden spoke which calls for tax increases on wealthy Americans and promises to trim the federal deficit by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade. The proposal offers insight into what Biden’s goal as he prepares for his yet-to-be-announced re-election campaign.
However, the proposal is as much a political statement as an actual tax-and-spending plan. Congress is in charge of writing the federal budget, and Biden’s budget will be dead on coming the minute it lands on Capitol Hill.
- Doubling down on Medicare and Social Security: Biden aimed to draw a contrast with Republicans who have not specified which domestic programs they want to cut.
- Defense spending: $26 billion growth in Pentagon spending to $842 billion, a 3.2 percent increase over 2023 as the Defense Department strives to face a variety of challenges from increasing troops’ pay to confronting China.
- Border security: Nearly $25 billion to boost border security, almost an $800 million increase over 2023.
- No date yet on GOP budget: Republicans have yet to release their own budget but McCarthy, R-Calif., criticized the president’s proposal as “completely unserious.”
Republicans, who now control the House, have said they have no choice of going along with any plan to raise taxes. The budget negotiations come amid a battle over increasing the limit on how much money the federal government can borrow. GOP leaders state they won’t expand the debt ceiling unless Biden coordinates to cut spending.
U.S. Chamber Rejects Biden’s Budget Plan
Biden’s budget Plan got a big thumbs down from the US Chamber of Commerce. Neil Bradley, the business group’s head of policy, called Biden’s budget Plan a “recipe for economic and fiscal disaster.” Instead of offering new spending and taxes, Bradley said, the administration should work with Congress to trim down spending and lower the federal debt.
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