Biden unveils $2024 budget plan of $6.8 trillion

President Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a $6.8 trillion government spending plan for 2024 that calls for dozens of new policy initiatives and tax increases for corporations and the wealthy. But Republicans immediately said the plan had no chance of getting congressional approval.

Biden called for more funding to counter China’s economic and military influence, more spending on health care for young and elderly Americans, new education projects and an expansion of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

“China is the only competitor to the United States intent on changing the international order and with increasing economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do so,” the White House budget summary reads.

The publication of the budget plan came at a time when the U.S. is facing a looming debate about how to raise the nation’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling – currently the limit on the amount of money the government can borrow to pay its bills.

If Biden and Congress cannot agree to raise the debt ceiling in the coming months, the U.S. could default on its financial obligations for the first time, leading to a financial disaster that could affect world markets and raise domestic unemployment.

Opponents of Biden in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives have called for significant cuts rather than increases in funding to curb the chronic budget deficit, which now stands at more than $1 trillion a year.

Republicans say government spending is out of control and individual programs should be drastically cut or eliminated.

By contrast, Biden calls for tax increases for Americans earning more than $400,000 a year and for corporations to fund existing and new programs. Republicans have yet to specify which programs they propose to cut or eliminate. The opposition party’s plan is due next month.

After presenting his budget plan during a meeting with union members in Philadelphia, Biden demanded that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy put his plan forward so they could go “line by line” and see what they could agree on. “I’m willing to meet with the Speaker at any time,” Biden said.

Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and Cecilia Rose, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told reporters that the president’s budget plan builds on what they see as successes achieved in his first two years in office.

“It will lift American manufacturing, provide national paid leave, lower taxes for working families, make our communities safer, lead to medical breakthroughs, benefit our veterans,” Young said. – This is the right way to continue to grow our economy.”

“Republicans in Congress keep saying they want to reduce the deficit. But they haven’t presented a comprehensive plan showing what they will cut,” Young said. – We won’t know until they release the plan. We look forward to seeing their version of the budget so Americans can compare it to what we’ve prepared.”

The release of Biden’s budget priorities will set the stage for months of debate.

Federal budgets are rarely approved by the start of each new fiscal year, which is Oct. 1, when Congress and the White House — regardless of which party controls the executive or legislative branch — usually agree to continue spending at current levels until agreement is finally reached on future funding.

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