By Ann Heitland, Past Chair
Last week, President Biden introduced a budget grounded in a vision of the United States based on the idea that the government should invest in workers, families, and infrastructure to increase the purchasing power of our citizens. This plan is a stark contrast to the efforts of Republicans since the 1980s, that the government should cut taxes and slash government spending to free up capital for those at the top of the economy with the idea that rewards will “trickle down” to the rest of us. The GOP “supply-side” theory has utterly failed, and today’s Republicans are struggling to replace it. Biden challenged Speaker McCarthy to disclose the GOP economic plan. So far, crickets.
In just two years, Biden’s policies have created record numbers of jobs and kept unemployment numbers low, and his budget builds on those policies. It advances four values: Lowering costs for families, protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, investing in America, and reducing the deficit by ensuring that the wealthiest in this country and big corporations begin to pay their fair share and cutting wasteful spending on Big Pharma, Big Oil, and other special interests. It does all of that while ensuring that no one earning less than $400,000 per year will pay more in taxes and while reducing the deficit by $3 trillion dollars.
Republican Speaker McCarthy’s response was not a counterproposal but a lie, falsely claiming that Biden’s budget “proposes new taxes that you and your family will pay directly or through higher costs.” In fact, very few American families enjoy incomes greater than $400,000 per year and Biden’s budget lowers costs on pharmaceuticals, childcare, and more. McCarthy, of course, must lie because he has no budget of his own and none in sight from the unruly MAGA gang he leads in the House.
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