Biden’s budget aims to reduce the deficit by nearly $3 trillion over ten years

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s budget proposal plans to cut the deficit by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade, the White House said Wednesday.

That deficit reduction goal is well above the $2 trillion that Biden promised in his State of the Union address last month. It’s also a stark contrast to House Republicans, who have called for a path to a balanced budget but have yet to offer a plan.

The White House has consistently questioned Republicans’ commitment to what it sees as a sustainable federal budget. Administration officials said various tax plans and other policies previously supported by GOP lawmakers would add more than $2.7 trillion to the national debt over 10 years.

Biden is set to discuss his budget proposal Thursday in Philadelphia. The Associated Press reported the deficit reduction target earlier Wednesday, citing an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“It’s something we think is important,” White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said, confirming the president’s plan. “This is what shows the American people that we take this seriously.”

In terms of the budget, the president has already said what he wants increase the Medicare payroll tax on people earning more than $400,000 a year to introduce a tax on the possessions of billionaires and others with an extraordinary degree of wealth.

This is a delicate time, with the US economy teetering on the brink of high inflation. The government is likely to exhaust its emergency measures this summer to keep Washington running by creating the risk of non-payment along with a cataclysmic series of job losses that could collapse the economy.

Biden’s package of spending priorities is unlikely to pass the House or Senate as proposed. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday the plan “will not see the light of day,” suggesting it could serve as a key messaging document in the 2024 election.

Republicans, who recently gained control of the House of Representatives, are demanding drastic spending cuts. Biden suggested that raising income and property taxes on the nation’s wealthiest households could strengthen government finances as well as improve Medicare and Social Security.

In a speech on Monday, the president said there are 680 billionaires in the United States and that many of them pay lower taxes than families who consider themselves middle class. Biden said that he should not be called the exact number of billionaires, but that they can afford to pay more for the good of the country.

“No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a firefighter — no one,” Biden said at a meeting of the International Association of Firefighters.