The Biden budget's focus on deficit reduction, taxing billionaires is reportedly an overture to Joe Manchin
President Biden on Monday unveiled his budget blueprint for next fiscal year, and he promoted it on social media as "cutting in half the deficit from the last year of the previous administration and delivering the largest one-year reduction in the deficit in U.S. history."
The $5.8 trillion budget would cut the deficit by $1.3 trillion, the White House says. It raises defense spending by 4 percent and non-defense spending by 5 percent, but cuts pandemic emergency spending and raises about $2.5 trillion in new tax revenue, much of it from a new "Billionaire Minimum Income Tax" that would ensure a 20 percent tax on all income, including unrealized capital gains, for Americans with more than $100 million in assets.
"We can restore fiscal responsibility and safeguard our security at home and abroad while meeting the third value I call 'building a better America,'" Biden told reporters Monday. "I'm a capitalist," he said. "If you can make a billion bucks, great," but "firefighters and teachers" shouldn't "pay more than double" the rate America's wealthiest pay.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Taxing the rich is widely popular among voters," The Washington Post reports, but it is also popular with one particular voter, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the moderate who publicly thwarted Biden's Build Back Better proposal last year. The focus on deficit reduction especially "comes as Biden seeks to revive talks with Senate Democratic moderates such as West Virginia's Manchin on central elements of his now-defunct social spending bill," Politico adds.
Biden's "ambitious" budget blueprint is a "good peace offering" to restive centrists, but it's also "a return to Joe Biden 2020 — a centrist who won the Democratic nomination handily and then captured the middle to beat Donald Trump," Jim Kessler of the moderate think tank Third Way tells Politico.
White House Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young agreed that this is "a classic Joe Biden budget," but she declined to detail any conversations with lawmakers, saying an "easy way to not get anything done is to negotiate in public."
A president's budget frameworks are typically "overhauled by Congress before anything is enacted into law," the Post notes.
As for Manchin, he "remains seriously concerned about the financial status of our country and believes fighting inflation by restoring fairness to our tax system and paying down our national debt must be our first priority," said spokeswoman Samantha Runyon.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
'Virtual prisons': how tech could let offenders serve time at home
Under The Radar New technology offers opportunities to address the jails crisis but does it 'miss the point'?
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
The Week contest: Airport goodbyes
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
'We shouldn't be surprised that crypto is back'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
'Empowered' Steve Bannon released from prison
Speed Read Bannon was set free a week before Election Day and quickly returned to his right-wing podcast to promote Trump
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Canada accuses top Modi ally of directing Sikh attacks
Speed Read Indian Home Minister Amit Shah was allegedly behind a campaign of violence and intimidation targeting Sikh separatists
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Harris makes closing case in huge rally at DC's Ellipse
Speed Read The Democratic nominee asked voters to "turn the page" on Trump's "division" and "chaos"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'I am not a Nazi,' Trump says amid MSG rally fallout
Speed Read Trump and his campaign are attempting to stem the fallout from comments made by speakers at Sunday's rally
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Ballot drop boxes set on fire in Oregon, Washington
Speed Read Hundreds of submitted ballots were destroyed in Vancouver, Washington
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel votes to ban UN agency for Palestinians
Speed Read UNRWA provides food, medical care and other humanitarian assistance to Palestine
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US election: where things stand with one week to go
The Explainer Harris' lead in the polls has been narrowing in Trump's favour, but her campaign remains 'cautiously optimistic'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Elon Musk is in regular contact with Putin, WSJ says
Speed Read The Tesla founder has been increasingly involved in Donald Trump's presidential campaign
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published