Biden Calls His Budget Plan Reflection of His Values
President challenges Republican McCarthy to put up his own spending blueprint
Calling the federal budget proposal he unveiled Thursday a reflection of his values, President Biden's spending plan would cut taxes for families with children and American workers, reduce healthcare costs, expand access to affordable early child care and learning — and more.
And in the current game of federal budget chicken between Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the president challenged the speaker to put up his own budget plan and go line-by-line over their spending blueprints.
Biden announced his budget proposal in a visit to Philadelphia, Pa.
“My dad had an expression. Someone would come up to my dad say, ‘Let me tell you what I value, Joey.’ And my dad would say, ‘No, no, show me your budget. I’ll tell you what you value. No, I’m serious. It was an expression my dad would use: ‘Show me your budget. I will tell you what you value,’” Biden recalled. “Well, folks, let me tell you what I value with the budget I’m releasing today.
“I value everyone having an even shot — not just labor, but a small-business owners, farmers, and so many other people who hold the country together who have been basically invisible for a long time,” he added. “So, at the end of the month, after working like the devil, they have just a little bit more breathing room, as my dad would say.”
The White House released a complete fact sheet on the priorities contained in Biden's spending plan, but a few highlights include:
Cutting Taxes for Families with Children and American Workers. The president is calling for the restoration of the full Child Tax Credit enacted in the American Rescue Plan, which cut child poverty in half in 2021, to the lowest level in history. The budget proposal would expand the credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child for children six years old and above, and to $3,600 per child for children under six. It would also permanently reform the credit to make it fully refundable. The president also calls on the Congress to make the Earned Income Tax Credit expansion for childless workers permanent, which would help pull low-paid workers out of poverty.
Reducing Prescription Drug Costs for All Americans. The Biden budget plan would build upon the Inflation Reduction Act to continue lowering the cost of prescription drugs. For Medicare, this includes further strengthening the newly established negotiation power by extending it to more drugs and bringing drugs into negotiation sooner after they launch. The Biden budget also proposes to limit Medicare Part D cost-sharing for high-value generic drugs used for certain chronic conditions like hypertension and high cholesterol to no more than $2. For Medicaid, the budget plan includes proposals to ensure Medicaid and CHIP programs are prudent purchasers of prescription drugs, authorizing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate supplemental drug rebates on behalf of interested states in order to pool purchasing power. For the commercial market, the budget plan includes proposals to curb inflation in prescription drug prices and cap the prices of insulin products at $35 for a monthly prescription.
Expanding Access to Affordable, High-Quality Early Child Care and Learning. The president’s budget proposal enables states to increase child care options for more than 16 million young children and lowers costs so that parents can afford to send their children to high-quality child care. The Biden budget also funds a federal-state partnership that provides high-quality, universal, free preschool to support healthy child development and ensure children enter kindergarten ready to succeed.
Biden is locked in a high-stakes contest of wills with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over McCarthy's demands for draconian federal spending cuts in exchange for a vote to raise the federal debt ceiling.
The president has been adamant, however, in saying “No,” to turning a debt-ceiling increase into a hostage negotiation.
The federal government officially hit its debt limit in January, requiring Congress to approve an increase just so that the government can continue to pay the bills it's already accrued in past years.
Should Congress fail to increase the federal debt ceiling, the federal government will eventually fall into default and cause a national and global economic meltdown.
The government has begun taking “extraordinary measures” to prevent default, although those measures will run out in June.
The two sides have until then to come to an agreement.
“The fact is that the speaker of the House has been — he’s a very conservative guy, and he has an even more conservative group with him,” Biden said Thursday. “But he and I met early on, and he said, ‘What are we going to do about the budget?’ And I said, ‘Well, let’s make a deal. Let’s meet.’ I said, ‘I’m going to introduce my budget on the 9th of March. You introduce yours. And we’ll sit down, and we’ll go line by line. And we’ll go through it. We’ll see what we can agree on and what we disagree on, and then fight it out in the Congress.
“So, I want to make it clear. I’m ready to meet with the speaker anytime — tomorrow, if he has his budget. Lay it down. Tell me what you want to do. I’ll show you what I want to do. See what we can agree on. What we don’t agree on, let’s see what we — we vote on,” Biden added, to applause.
The annual spending plan Biden announced Thursday is his proposal; it is not law. Congress will consider his plans and decide on what budget it wants to pass which would win Biden's required signature into law.
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