The budget proposal US President Joe Biden will present on Thursday will reduce the US budget deficit by nearly $3 trillion over the next 10 years, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday.
In 2022, the world’s leading power had a federal deficit of $1.38 trillion, according to the US Treasury Department.
Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden intended to achieve this by raising taxes on the wealthy and large corporations while cutting wasteful spending on special interests such as pharmaceutical and oil giants.
President Biden had already hinted in February at a proposed tax on billionaires which, however, has little or no chance of making it through Congress, especially the Republican-dominated House of Representatives.
This budget proposal “reveals the president’s values,” the spokesperson insisted: Biden has already promised not to touch social benefits, and even to strengthen, instead, the health insurance system for Americans over 65.
According to the Washington Post, the Democratic president also plans to raise federal employee salaries by 5.2%, which would be the biggest pay raise in more than four decades.
The spokesperson estimated that the plans of the Republicans would instead lead to a $3 trillion increase in the deficit.
This numbers battle is likely to be one of Joe Biden’s campaign planks, if he embarks, as he intends to and as all indications suggest, on a campaign for the 2024 presidential election.
