Republicans prepare their own budget to counter Biden’s

House Republicans will release their own budget plan in the coming “weeks” to counter President Joe Biden’s as both sides prepare for a political battle over which policies to fund and cut.

Republicans — led by Chairman Kevin McCarthy and Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington — want to cut federal spending to reduce the $31.4 trillion federal deficit. Biden’s budget cuts the deficit through tax hikes for the wealthy and corporations.

Virginia Republican Congressman Ben Cline said Thursday that the GOP will release their budget in the “coming weeks.”

“In the coming weeks, the House Republicans will introduce a budget that actually works to put our fiscal house in order by reining in out-of-control spending and putting us on the path to balance,” the budget leader said. of the Republican Study Committee. and Spending Task Force told Fox News.

Arrington said the GOP needs time to study Biden’s proposal before releasing their counter-budget.

“We are making good progress on our budget resolution,” he said.

Overall, Republicans dismissed Biden’s budget as “out of control spending.”

“Everyone knows that Biden’s out-of-control spending is the cause of inflation driving up the prices of almost everything,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise ahead of the release.

Biden cleared his $6.8 trillion federal budget on Thursday, saying the ball was now in the Republicans’ court.

He and the Democrats are pressuring the Republicans to put their proposal in writing. Biden specifically said he needs to see what the GOP wants so the two sides can go “line by line” to see what they can agree on.

“I’m always ready to meet the speaker,” Biden said of McCarthy.

It takes a compromise between the two sides to fund the federal government. Democrats control the Senate and Republicans control the House. Biden’s budget is considered dead upon arrival on Capitol Hill, but it’s packed with Democratic priorities — such as more money for childcare and college tuition — that will please his base as he heads toward the 2024 election.

Republicans, to make their case for getting federal spending “under control,” are proposing cuts in the following areas:

• Withdraw nearly $100 billion in uncommitted COVID money
• Reintroduction of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) work requirements
• $37 billion, or 29 percent, from the Department of Health and Human Services
• Reducing fraud in the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and SNAP (food stamps) program.
• Limit Obamacare subsidies to 400 percent of the poverty level and recover overpayments
• A 43% slash in housing programs
• Cut nearly $90 billion in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, contained in the Inflation Reduction Act
• Ending Biden’s student debt forgiveness
• Saving $13 billion in green spending on electric vehicles for the US Postal Service and low-emission buses
• $1.2 million elimination for LGBTQIA+ Pride Centers, $3.6 million for a Michelle Obama Trail in Georgia, $750,000 for transgender care in Los Angeles and more
• Cut foreign aid by 45 percent

McCarthy also called Biden’s budget full of expenses.

The problem is that he spends more. It’s not an income problem. It’s spending. What does the budget do? Raise more taxes, spend more money, create the greatest government we’ve ever seen in the history of the United States,” he told Fox News.

Biden’s budget puts higher taxes on the wealthy, targets businesses and injects a huge injection of funding for social programs such as child care and paid family leave.

The plan includes bringing in $5.5 trillion in tax revenue from the wealthiest Americans by raising the top rate for those earning more than $400,000 from 39.6 percent to 37 percent and imposing a 25 percent minimum income tax on billionaires .

Biden said Friday that his proposal is in stark contrast to the MAGA Republican plan in Congress, where they are doubling down on the same failed policies of the past.

The president’s plan — which he says will reduce the deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years — would also nearly double the capital gains tax rate on investments from 20 percent to 39.6 percent and raise corporate income taxes.

Enough for the largest peacetime budget in history has also been proposed – including $842 billion for the Pentagon, a 5.2 percent wage increase for troops, $6 billion for aid to Ukraine and Europe, and $37 billion for the nuclear weapons program.

Billions have also been earmarked for a 5.2 percent pay increase for federal employees, aid for refugees, more offshore wind farms and a $25 billion investment in border security.

“My budget reflects what we can do to ease the burden of hard-working Americans,” Biden said of his budget in remarks at a Philadelphia union building.

It calls for $688 billion in non-defense discretionary spending — that is, money for programs that are not mandatory, such as Social Security and Medicare. That’s an increase of $47 billion over last year’s budget.

Discretionary programs — the only ones under discussion in Congress — account for about $1.9 trillion, while mandatory programs account for about $3.9 trillion and interest on national debt accounts for $796 billion.