“Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value,” President Joe Biden loves to say. He said it again when he introduced his fiscal 2023 budget this week. And as bad as the increased $1.4 trillion in spending and $2.5 trillion in higher taxes over the next decade are, what is most noteworthy is what isn’t in the document: Biden’s signature legislative agenda, Build Back Better.

Sure, there is a footnote explaining that the budget includes “a reserve for legislation that reduces costs, expands productive capacity, and reforms the tax system.” No doubt this is meant to be a placeholder for Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, which the budget claims is still being discussed with Congress.