Biden’s tax-and-spend budget only adds to the nation’s debt
Washington Examiner
Video Embed
Higher taxes, higher spending, and more debt. President Joe Biden’s proposed budget for 2024 lives up to every caricature of a classic tax-and-spend Democrat.
Factor in inflation, and Biden even managed to cut defense spending. It’s Jimmy Carter all over again.
HOW BIDEN’S DEFENSE BUDGET REQUEST FAILS THE CHINA TEST
The White House is trying to spin its spending plan as a cut to long-term deficits. Don’t believe it. In the near term, Biden’s budget only raises taxes, spending, and next year’s deficit.
According to the Congressional Budget Office’s most recent projections, in 2024, the federal government is set to spend $6.4 trillion and take in $4.8 trillion, leaving a $1.6 trillion deficit. Biden’s budget would raise spending to $6.9 trillion and taxes to $5 trillion, thus raising the deficit to $1.9 trillion.
None of those numbers are good for taxpayers or the economy. And they look even worse compared to what the 2024 numbers were projected to be when Biden was first sworn into office.
Before Biden’s trillion-dollar COVID stimulus, before his infrastructure bonanza, and before the inaptly named Inflation Reduction Act, the federal government was projected to spend $5.3 trillion in 2024 while taking in $4.4 trillion. That means there was a projected deficit of $900 billion. But thanks to Biden’s spending, which has sent inflation to near-record highs, the federal deficit would now be a full trillion dollars higher in 2024 if Biden’s budget became law.
The mundane details of Biden’s domestic spendathon are all old news. There is nothing new or innovative in this document. Name a failed government program that Biden first proposed for his Build Back Better agenda that was rejected by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and it is in this budget. Expensive new day care programs that punish married families and discriminate against churches? Check. Preschool programs proven not to work for low-income children? Check. Parental leave programs that punish mothers who don’t want to work full time? Check.
All the worst failed social engineering programs that died in Congress over the last two years have been resurrected in this document.
Despite all the lavish new spending designed to remake the American family, Biden then stiffs our military. With inflation raging at 6.4% — again, thanks to Biden’s previous reckless spending — his budget would raise defense spending by just 3.2%. Considering all the weapons and ammunition we are currently sending to support Ukraine’s war against Russia in Europe, and the very real threats China has been making against Taiwan, this functional spending cut to defense is both a dereliction of duty and an accounting gimmick. It is a classic Washington budget trick to short-fund things that are essential — and the more essential, the better. That way, your budget looks less bloated, but you know Congress will be forced to authorize additional funds at a later date.
Fortunately, Biden’s budget proposal is dead on arrival in Congress. Not even Senate Democrats want to relive Biden’s Build Back Better debacle. But the ball is now in House Republicans’ court. They need to produce their own plan to fund defense, cut spending, and lower deficits, all without raising taxes.