President Biden unveiled his budget proposal for fiscal year 2023. The plan comes with a $5.8 trillion dollar price tag and proposes increasing taxes on the richest Americans, increasing funding for the military, state and local police departments and other programs.
The President’s proposal includes a 7% increase in domestic policy spending which includes affordable housing initiatives, more gun-safety and anti-gun violence efforts and investments in manufacturing here at home as the country’s supply chain drives inflation and subsequent product shortages.
In addition to that, the President’s domestic spending plan also includes $3.3 billion to invest in clean energy initiatives and projects as well as $18 billion for other climate related proposals. The plan also calls for over $80 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services over the next 5 years to fund pandemic preparedness programs and nearly $10 billion for the CDC to spend on public health infrastructure.
The plan also requests Congress for increased funding for national security and foreign policy efforts. The President’s military proposal will see a 10% increase in spending, valuing the Pentagon’s budget at $773 billion, as the war caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ravages. The proposal requests for almost $7 billion to help NATO combat increasing Russian aggression. In addition to that, the budget also proposes modernizing nuclear weapons and investing in more ballistic missiles for submarines for the Navy. the The plan sees increases in other areas of foreign policy as well including more money for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
In a statement, Chairman of the Senate Budget committee Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said “At a time when we are already spending more on the military than the next 11 countries combined, no, we do not need a massive increase in the defense budget”
The President’s budget also sees increased spending for law enforcement. The proposal calls for $30 billion for state and local law enforcement agencies, crime prevention programs and anti-violence initiatives. The Department of Justice will also receive $367 million for police reform efforts to prosecute hate crimes and also more money to maintain voting rights.
In an address about the budget, President Biden said “The answer is not to defund our police departments. It’s to fund our police and give them all the tools they need,” and “They need psychologists in the department as much as they need extra rifles,”
The most notable aspect of the President budget proposal is how he plans to fund it. His new tax plan proposes a minimum 20% tax on the “full income” of American households worth more than $100 million. Additionally the plan also sees an increase in the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. The White House says this plan would help reduce the federal deficit by over $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
Isn’t that a lot of cheddar? Arguably too much cheese perhaps?