President Joe Biden released his budget request for the fiscal year 2023 on Monday, claiming its proposals will reduce the deficit by $1.3 trillion next year.
That figure would mark the largest single-year deficit reduction in American history, and, according to Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, is nearly half of the deficit increase Biden inherited from the Trump administration. Biden’s request in total clocks in at $5.8 trillion.
“My budget will make investments in securing our nation and building a better America. We will secure our communities by putting more police on the street to engage in accountable community policing, hiring the agents needed to help fight gun crime, and investing in crime prevention and community violence intervention,” the president said in a statement. “All told, it is a budget that includes historic deficit reduction, historic investments in our security at home and abroad, and an unprecedented commitment to building an economy where everyone has a chance to succeed.”
The deficit was at a record level because of the massive pandemic-era spending and decreased revenues from economic shutdowns.
Young claims that Biden’s request will “expand” on the GDP growth and unemployment reductions Biden’s policies brought in 2021 by including a new 20% tax on all income earned by billionaires and eliminating tax havens and other loopholes for multinational corporations.
“Its investments are more than fully paid for,” she claimed, adding that “no one earning less than $400,000 a year will pay an additional penny in new taxes.”
Furthermore, Biden’s request includes more than $30 billion for anti-crime initiatives and plans to remove illegal firearms from streets. Those funds will be directed in the form of “mandatory resources” and discretionary Justice Department grants to help local law offices hire officers and implement responsible community policing programs.
Cecilia Rouse, the chairwoman of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers, claims that the budget will also make long-term investments in modernizing America’s workforce and shoring up supply chain bottlenecks.
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“The budget makes important investments in the American people. A healthy, cared for workforce is a productive workforce. Moreover, the budget lowers costs for families such as healthcare, childcare, and energy — measures that will ease price pressures over the longer term,” she told reporters. “The strength of our recovery has put us on solid ground to weather economic shocks. Americans are back to work and the economy is stronger than anyone including the federal government and private forecasters imagined when President Biden took office. The President’s 2023 budget presents a fiscally fair and responsible approach to build on the progress we’ve made so far to invest in America and meet our future challenges.”
