President Uncorks Bottle on $6 Trillion Spending Spree
WASHINGTON, DC – President Joe Biden delivered his 2022 budget proposal to Congress on Friday, with a $6 trillion spending plan focused on double-digit increases for every department in the federal government.
According to Reuters, the budget calls for $6 trillion in spending and $4 trillion in revenues which equates to a 37 percent increase over 2019 – the last year without COVID-19 specific outlays.
The Department of Education would see a 41 percent increase in funding, followed by Commerce (+29 percent), Health and Human Services (+23 percent), EPA (+22 percent), National Science Foundation (+20 percent), followed by the Department of Interior and USDA (both +17 percent).
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack praised the increases in expanding broadband access, supporting a stronger nutrition safety net, and making investments in agricultural research.
The White House also pointed to addressing inequality, climate change, providing four more years of free public education, and tax increases, while Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admitted that the proposal if enacted as presented, would push domestic debt levels past the size of the overall U.S. economy, but wouldn’t contribute to inflationary pressures.
Congressional members from both sides of the aisle remind constituents year after year that the budget is a request, and that Congress – primarily the House of Representatives – is still in charge of the purse strings, or more often the nation’s credit card(s).
(SOURCE: All Ag News)