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June 3, 2021 | Research
Economy

Biden’s Bloated Budget

Research

Gimmicks, Wasteful Spending, And A Failure To Address Real Priorities

BIDEN’S IRRESPONSIBLE BUDGET WILL DRIVE SPENDING AND DEBT TO HISTORIC LEVELS

  • The Biden White House attempted to bury their own budget by releasing it last Friday afternoon before the Memorial Day weekend.
  • Biden’s $6 trillion spending spree would surge the national debt to its highest level in American history.
  • Biden’s budget is missing several tax-and-spend proposals that he promised on the campaign trail, such as the creation of a public option.
    • These omissions, and the interest costs to pay for them, total $5.8 trillion in additional spending, meaning Biden’s actual spending plans nearly double those outlined in his budget.
    • Biden’s budget assumes that certain spending items included will expire - such as the child tax credit expansion and long-term care for seniors - when he has no intention of allowing these programs to expire. 
  • Biden’s budget greatly expands the federal bureaucracy, adding 50,000 new federal employees. 

BIDEN’S BUDGET JEOPARDIZES AMERICA’S NATIONAL SECURITY

  • When accounting for inflation, Biden’s budget cuts defense.
    • Biden’s budget would cut Army funding by $3.6 billion and leave Coast Guard funding essentially flat. 
  • At a time when the Chinese Communist Party has increased its defense spending by over 75 percent in the last decade, the $715 billion request for the DoD would represent about a 3 percent real decrease compared with the current fiscal year.
  • His budget would cut 4,600 troops from all branches of the active-duty military (except the Space Force) and decrease procurement in several critical areas, including aviation, shipbuilding, and weapons. 
    • Less money is requested for ground weapons, missile defense, and missiles and bombs.
    • This comes at a time when military leaders have already expressed concern about troop levels being too low.
  • America’s servicemembers took a back seat in Biden’s budget, with the White House summary failing to mention “military,” “defense,” or “national security” even once.

BIDEN’S BUDGET WILL MAKE HIS BORDER CRISIS EVEN WORSE

  • Despite a 21-year high in border crossings, Biden’s budget effectively cuts funding for DHS after accounting for inflation.  
  • Biden’s budget nixes funding of the border wall and would even cancel unused funds previously allocated to the wall. 
  • Biden’s budget slashes Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) funding for several priorities.
    • CBP funding for “Procurement, Construction and Improvements” would be cut by 50 percent, and ICE Funding for the same would be cut 47 percent.
    • CBP funding for “Border Security Assets and Infrastructure” would be cut by 96 percent, from $1.5 billion to $54 million.
  • Biden’s budget does not tell the full story, as Biden’s DHS admits after the budget’s release that it would cave to activists and cut funding for the 287(g) program, which deputizes state and local law enforcement to assist ICE in enforcing immigration laws.

ORGANIZATIONS ACROSS THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM CRITICIZED BIDEN’S BUDGET

  • Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: “...the budget adds too much to already record-level debt over the next decade and does far too little to address rising structural deficits over the long term.”
  • The Heritage Foundation: “President Biden’s budget request represents a massive increase in spending, and is frankly unreasonable, irresponsible, and stuffed with a liberal wish list.” 
  • Susan B. Anthony List: “For more than four decades, the Hyde family of pro-life policies has kept American taxpayers out of the abortion business … The Biden budget throws that longstanding, bipartisan consensus out the window to fulfill a campaign promise to the radical abortion lobby.”
  • Taxpayers for Common Sense: Biden’s budget was released “when it is least likely to be seen, after lunch on the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend. Perhaps that is because most of the reported nearly $6 trillion in this proposal is a re-tread of the administration’s infrastructure and families plans – dwarfing a roughly $1.5 trillion annual discretionary spending budget.”
  • Bipartisan Policy Center: “While emergency government intervention was justified to address the recent health and economic crises, a continuation of such fiscal trends will harm future generations of Americans, who will be left with the burden of both paying increasing interest costs and paying off the growing national debt.”