On Thursday, President Joe Biden unveiled his new $6.8 trillion budget. In addition to more military spending, the White House maintains it will cut nearly $3 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. Taxes would also go up on the rich, in part, to fund new social programs for the middle and lower class.
“I ran to grow the economy from the middle out and bottom up not the top down,” President Biden said from the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Critics said his budget announcement felt more like a re-election pitch.
His proposal falls into four main categories: deficit reduction, lower costs for families, protecting and strengthening Medicare and Social Security, and investing in America.
“If you look at the revenue that’s coming into America today, it’s higher than any 50-year average. But our expenses are much higher and if you look since (Biden’s) been in office, the added $6 trillion, the 30 percent increase in discretionary spending, just in the last four years, that has been a real challenge and I think that’s where the real problem lies,” said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy when asked Wednesday about the president’s upcoming budget announcement.
Democrats, meanwhile, accuse the GOP of targeting programs that average Americans rely on like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, to try to achieve a balanced budget.
“Their fantastical plan, I call it fantastical, to balance the budget in ten years would decimate the middle class, decimate the wallets of every American family, and undo the progress we’ve made over the last two years,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
McCarthy maintains cuts to federal entitlement programs are off the table.
As Congress argues over how to bring down the national debt, both sides agree something must be done. U.S. debt currently sits at $32 trillion and is expected to reach $50 trillion by 2030.
“In the next 10 years, Americans will pay $10.5 trillion in interest on our debt. Now to put that in perspective, since 1940 til today, America has only paid $9 trillion in interest. So the next 10 years, we’ll pay more than we paid the last 80 years,” said McCarthy.
“I’m ready to meet with the Speaker anytime, tomorrow if he has his budget,” Biden said. “Lay it down. Tell me what you want to do. I’ll show you what I want to do. See what we agree on, what we don’t agree on, what we vote on.”
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