On Friday, President Biden submitted his proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget to Congress. Annually, presidents submit their proposed budgets to Congress, which reflect their priorities of which programs and services are most important and how they think taxpayer dollars should be spent.
The Biden/Harris $1.5 trillion discretionary budget request increases spending on non-defense programs by 16 percent while shortchanging the military with a defense budget that does not even keep pace with inflation.
The outline provided by the White House is less detailed than usual, but some domestic spending increases include $14 billion for climate change programs and a massive increase in funding for the EPA as well as $14.2 billion for the Department of Labor to implement and enforce job-killing regulations. The plan also includes a whopping 35 percent increase to subsidize Amtrak service between Washington D.C. and Boston and increased funding for the IRS, ATF and Department of Education.
Meanwhile, as the Communist Party of China gains in brutality, capability and confidence, the Biden/Harris plan lets our military research and capability enterprise languish. Given the Chinese Communist regime’s goal to gain dominance over the United States by 2049, our president’s budget should not be kneecapping our military while funding so-called “social justice” programs instead.
Further, this proposed $1.5 trillion discretionary spending spree is in addition to the nearly $2 trillion deficit spending bill Democrats passed last month under the guise of “COVID Relief” and in addition to the $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal that the White House is pushing. If enacted, that would put spending at $6 trillion in Fiscal Year 2022 alone. This is a shocking figure that almost eclipses the entire amount spent on discretionary programs during President Trump’s four years in office.
The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the authority and power to decide spending and allocate funding. I remain concerned about our nation’s debt and spending trajectory and that concern guides my evaluation of proposed budgets and whether I can support the final spending plans passed by Congress. I have opposed nearly all the non-defense annual funding bills passed by Congress as I steadfastly reject the Washington presumption that nothing in the budget can be cut in order to fund priorities without increasing the deficit. I pledge to continue to work hard on behalf of Florida’s hardworking taxpayers and families to advance common-sense reforms and principled policy and budgets that get our fiscal house in order.
Congressman Daniel Webster represents The Villages in the U.S. House of Representatives.
