On Thursday, March 9th, President Joe Biden introduced his new $6.8 trillion spending budget, outlining his new political priorities for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Traditionally, this introduction will be followed by more detailed documents created by federal agencies which are then presented to Congress. Then, budget committees in the House and Senate set their own overall spending budgets and the appropriation committees set general spending limits, distributing the funding between specific objectives and agencies. Finally, the President signs the bill by October 1st to secure funding for the next year. If Congress doesn’t agree on a budget by then, the government either extends the previous year’s spending levels or if funding is fully spent, the government goes into a shutdown.
Simply put, the passing of a spending budget (including majority support from the Senate and House) is crucial for our government to operate.
This is expected to be particularly difficult this year, as numerous Republicans need to support the budget to reach the 218/435 majority in the House. This would involve pleasing both extreme conservatives and moderate ones, as well as being progressive enough to pass in the Democrat-majority Senate.
This makes Biden’s proposal and priorities even more significant.
Here are his most important priorities:
- Increasing tax rates for the wealthiest Americans and corporations
- 25% minimum tax rate for billionaires
- Increase corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%
- Eliminate “carried interest” to block billionaires from avoiding tax through retirement shelters and require private equity/hedge fund executives to pay more taxes than their employees
- 25% minimum tax rate for billionaires
- Expanding child tax credit to $3,600 per month, including a provision so those who don’t owe any taxes still get the credit
- $35/month cap for Insulin prices, including more aggressive drug price negotiation
- This would save the government $200 billion over 10 years, providing more money for the Medicare fund
- $842 billion for the Defense Department to expand nuclear defense programs, improve cybersecurity, and protect against Russia and China via modernizing weaponry
- $5 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce greenhouse gases protect against extreme weather
- $15 billion over the next 10 years to provide free school means to more children
- $27.2 billion for NASA’s exploration of Mars and the moon
- Up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, but he did not outline the specific portion of income individuals would get, or where the funding for these programs would come from
This is (believe it or not) a brief overview of Biden’s new proposed budget. To understand more about what initiatives are mentioned in his plan and which of these suggestions are expected to change, I encourage you to read this article by The New York Times or this one by Associated Press.
To remain updated on politics and Biden’s implementations for the new year, try your best to keep up with the news, but always remember to get your information from multiple reliable sources. Refer to a media bias chart to ensure you understand the perspectives you are reading from!