Biden’s budget plans to reduce US deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years: White House

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

The White House has consistently questioned Republicans’ commitment to what it believes to be a sustainable federal budget. Administration officials have noted that 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 wants to discuss his budget proposal on Thursday in Philadelphia. The Associated Press, citing an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity, first reported the deficit reduction target on Wednesday.

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

As part of the budget, the president has already said he wants to raise the Medicare payroll tax on people making more than $400,000 a year and tax billionaires and others with a lot of wealth.

Read also: Report says Joe Biden plans to tax the wealthy more to fund Medicare

This is a delicate time with the US economy on the edge due to high inflation. The government is likely to end its emergency measures to keep Washington running this summer, setting up the risk of defaulting on payments as well as a catastrophic chain of job losses that could crash the economy .

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

Republicans, in new control of the House, are demanding sharper spending cuts. Biden has suggested that increasing taxes on the income and holdings of the nation’s wealthiest households could shore up government finances and also reform Medicare and Social Security.

The president argued in Monday’s speech that there are 680 billionaires in the United States and many of them pay taxes at a lower rate than families who consider themselves middle class. Biden said he didn’t want the exact number of billionaires, but that they could pay more for the good of the country.

“No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a firefighter,” Biden told a gathering of the International Association of Firefighters.