WASHINGTON – White House Budget Director Shalanda Young urged senators Tuesday to pass legislation implementing core elements of President Joe Biden’s latest budget request, saying it would stimulate the economy and programs to support working Americans.
Young told the Senate Budget Committee during a two-hour hearing that the tax, spending and economic policies included in the proposal would advance the country’s recovery from the pandemic, but she also acknowledged that the likelihood was slim that a divided Congress would approve all of the recommendations.
“Presidents’ budgets are meant to show a vision,” Young said. “Most budgets are not easily adopted and passed. But the idea is that presidents are laying out how they think the country should move forward.”
“This president believes we must continue to invest in the American people, strengthen the economy for the middle class, and give working families in this country a chance. And we can do that through a fairer tax code,” Young added.
The budget proposal of $7.266 trillion for fiscal year 2025, which is scheduled to begin on October 1, was published on MondayThis will initiate the annual budget and appropriations process, which will likely not be completed until after the elections.
Congress is still trying to complete work on the dozens of government funding bills that lawmakers were supposed to pass after Biden’s last budget request more than five months ago.
The House of Representatives and the Senate voted last week for approval Six of the spending measures have already been passed, but the final six must be announced before the current March 22 deadline.
Child allowance, taxes for higher earners
Biden’s budget request calls on lawmakers to expand the child tax credit to levels in place during the Covid-19 pandemic and require wealthy Americans to pay “their fair share” of taxes.
Young, a former chief of staff of the House Budget Committee, said the total spending on defense and domestic discretionary programs was in line with the agreement Biden reached last year with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California.
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham argued that spending on the Department of Defense and other national security initiatives is insufficient given the global threats the United States faces.
This spending total was approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate with broad bipartisan support.
“I just want the American people to understand my perspective: Whatever that means, I have never seen so many threats at once,” Graham said.
He said Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives should consider and pass the $95 billion emergency spending bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, which senators approved in February.
“The amendment doesn’t just have money for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. It has money for all of our own defense needs,” Graham said, adding that he was “insisting” the aid be passed. “Hopefully we can find a way to get it through the House. I’ll keep trying.”
Grassley criticizes lack of plan for social security
Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Budget Committee, criticized Biden’s budget request as inadequate and criticized the president for not putting forward more ideas that Republican lawmakers could support.
Grassley said the lack of a concrete plan in the budget proposal to prevent a decline in social services in less than a decade represents “a sad political climate” and called on Biden and likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to show leadership on the issue.
“What do you think will happen in 2033, just eight years from now?” Grassley asked. “We all know that if we don’t do anything about Social Security, benefits for everyone will drop to 77 percent of what they are today.”
“If there was ever an opportunity for a president to show leadership with his budget, it is now,” Grassley added. “Instead, he is making proposals that are so far from the mainstream that most of them have already been rejected by Democrats in Congress.”
White House sees “declaration of values”
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, said Biden’s budget request offers the president an opportunity to differentiate himself from Trump.
“As the president likes to say, a budget is a statement of values,” Whitehouse said. “That message is especially important this year because President Biden and MAGA Republicans have very different visions for the future of our country.”
Biden’s budget proposal “puts the middle class first … and paves the way for a stronger, safer and more prosperous America,” Whitehouse said.
The House Republicans’ budget resolution for the coming fiscal year, which they debated and passed in committee last week, would “undo growth-enhancing investments that create jobs, fuel a clean energy boom and lower costs for households across the country – while calling for Trump’s tax cuts for the super-rich to be made permanent,” he said.
Reducing costs for working families
Young testified before the committee that Biden’s budget request “protects and builds on the progress made over the past three years and proposes additional measures to reduce costs for working families, including for health insurance, prescription drugs, child care, utilities, housing, college, energy, and more.”
“These investments will help working families keep more of their hard-earned wages and strengthen our economy,” Young said. “It also invests in American working families.”
The budget bill, she said, “extends Medicare’s solvency indefinitely by requiring wealthy citizens to pay their fair share of Medicare and by reducing prescription drug costs.”
The budget does not include tax increases for people earning more than $400,000 annually, Young said.
