President Joe Biden on Friday sent Congress a $6 trillion budget proposal that would spend big on infrastructure, climate change, and social welfare packages, while creating projected …
President Joe Biden on Friday sent Congress a $6 trillion budget proposal that would spend big on infrastructure, climate change, and social welfare packages, while creating projected deficits of at least $1.3 trillion per year until 2030. If passed, the plan, which faces strong opposition from Republican lawmakers, would make the biggest sustained government spending since World War II. Biden in the budget message argued against “trick-down economics” as he laid out his administration’s investments that calls for some $6.01 trillion in spending, bringing together the $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan he had already announced, as well as about $1.5 trillion in discretionary spending for fiscal 2022, and other mandatory spending programs. The blueprint maps out some $4.17 trillion in revenues, thereby projecting a $1.84 trillion deficit—a sharp decrease from the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic—but up from 2019’s $984 billion. The American Families Plan consists of about $1 trillion in investments and $800 billion in tax cuts and credits for families and workers. The new spending proposal focuses on expanding the welfare state by providing access to education, child care, and more. Child care support receives the most funds under the plan. The Democratic president proposed to increase taxes on high-income households to pay for the spending. Biden said in the budget message ( pdf) that the budget proposal “reflects the fact that trickle-down economics has never worked, and that the best way to grow our economy is not from the top down, but from the bottom up and the middle out.
