Democratic leadership praised the plan, but progressives say it does not spend enough
President Joe Biden, late last month, unveiled a proposed $5.8 trillion budget that seeks to address urgent problems facing his administration at home and abroad, all while trying to appeal to centrists in Congress during what’s likely to be a challenging election year for Democrats.
Although the budget will prompt familiar partisan disagreements, one area of the proposal, defense spending, has emerged as a potential hurdle as objections came from both sides of the aisle. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle criticized a proposed 4% increase in defense spending. Many Republicans called the increase insufficient amid rising inflation, while some Democrats criticized increasing military spending at all. Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before the House Armed Services Committee that inflation is occurring at a rate “clearly higher than what the assumption was in this budget.”
In a statement, Biden said budgets are “statements of values” and called his proposal a “clear message that we value fiscal responsibility, safety and security at home and around the world, and the investments needed to continue our equitable growth and build a better America.”
Biden said his proposal would reduce the federal deficit, invest in community safety measures and national security, and address rising consumer costs. But in Congress, the budget was met with criticisms from both sides of the aisle as Democratic leaders in each chamber tried to set optimistic tones about the budget while preparing for what will likely be a lengthy negotiation process. The president’s proposal is a request to Congress, ultimately determining its size and scope.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the budget “a strong, forward-looking, and optimistic vision of our country’s potential.”
In a statement praising Biden’s budget as “visionary,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said its passage would lower consumer costs and increase wages “while ensuring the wealthiest few pay their fair share.”
“President Biden’s budget request honors this truth: our federal budget must be a statement of our national values,” Pelosi said. “The Congress looks forward to working with the Biden administration to pass a budget that will serve as a crucial foundation for our continued work Building a Better America.”
Republicans, meanwhile, criticized the budget as excessive in size and argued it would contribute to inflation while allocating insufficient funds to defense funding despite the increase. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the budget is “fundamentally disconnected from what American families need.”
“The Biden administration proposes a nominal 4% increase for defense over the bipartisan bill Congress just passed for this year,” the Kentucky Republican said in remarks on the Senate floor shortly after the budget’s release. “That’s a nominal 4% increase before any of Democrats’ historic inflation is taken into account. And inflation right now is about twice that.”
McConnell argued that “even if you accept the White House’s rosiest predictions about where inflation is heading, this would amount to flat-funding defense, with none of the robust growth we need to keep pace with Russia and China.”
“Even in the best-case scenario for their budget, it would leave our Armed Forces just treading water,” he said.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune made similar arguments during remarks on the Senate floor this week, arguing that passing the president’s proposed budget would mean “our already serious inflation crisis could get even worse.”
“No matter how the president tries to dress it up, his fiscal year 2023 budget is just more of the same far-left priorities: More taxes. More unnecessary spending. And more pain for the American people,” Thune said. “I hope my Democrat colleagues will think twice before foisting this budget onto hardworking Americans.”
While hitting the overall proposal as too costly, Republicans also objected to what they called insufficient funds for defense.
Sen. Richard Shelby, the vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement that in the proposal, “defense spending does not even keep pace with the skyrocketing rate of inflation.”
“We live in an increasingly dangerous world,” Shelby said. “Today’s security environment demands a level of investment that will meet and defeat the threat. It’s time for the administration to get serious about addressing the threat posed by Russian aggression and the growing worldwide ambitions of the People’s Republic of China.” But some House Democrats criticized raising military spending at any rate. Lawmakers in the Congressional Progressive Caucus said in a joint statement that while “is much to be applauded” in Biden’s budget, “we have a lot of work to do.”
“It is simply unacceptable that after the conclusion of our longest war and during a period of Democratic control of both chambers of Congress, the president is proposing record-high military spending,” Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Mark Pocan, and Barbara Lee said in the joint statement.
The objections from House Democrats may prove difficult to overcome on the topic of defense spending as the Democrats have a razor-thin majority in the chamber. ★