Wicker, Hyde-Smith decry Biden’s budget that would result in decade of trillion dollar deficits.
President Joe Biden released his first budget proposal on Friday, hours before the Memorial Day holiday weekend is set to begin. He called the proposal “a statement of values that define our Nation at its best.”
“There are many challenges ahead. But every time America has faced moments of testing, we have emerged stronger,” Biden said. “And I believe this Budget will help us become stronger than ever. I look forward to working with the Congress to deliver on this agenda this year.”
Republicans immediately said the Biden budget was dead on arrival among their ranks as it proposes a series of tax increases, cuts to defense spending, and increases the national debt, among other points.
Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith joined their GOP colleagues in opposing the Biden proposal.
Senator Wicker said President Biden’s proposal confirms that his Administration is out of touch with the needs of the American people and will continue to spend with reckless abandon.
“If the President is serious about growing our economy, getting tough on China, and ensuring we remain a world superpower, then his budget request falls far short of his goals,” Wicker said.
Wicker says Biden’s budget would set the nation on a path to spend more in relation to the size of our economy than we have since World War II.
“The President’s plan would have us run deficits above $1 trillion a year for the next decade, while at the same time cutting back on our national defense and placing crushing tax hikes on job creators,” Wicker noted, adding, “Fortunately, Congress holds the power of the purse, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to advance an appropriations package that will meet the needs of our country. I will continue to stand firm against the President’s uncontrolled spending and job-killing tax hikes.”
Senator Hyde-Smith, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in the first few months of this administration, President Biden and his Democratic colleagues demonstrated a clear willingness to take advantage of the COVID crisis to spend big and spend often.
“The new Biden budget fits that pattern—more spending, more taxes, more deficits, and more debt. Worse yet, it prioritizes a liberal agenda at the expense of defense and homeland security—both areas where his budget constrains funding,” Hyde-Smith said. “The only saving grace with this budget proposal is the old adage, ‘The President proposes and the Congress disposes.'”
Hyde-Smith said that as the FY 2022 budget and appropriations process gets underway, she will cast a very critical eye on any budget resolution or spending bills that do not represent the most pressing needs of our nation and its security at this time. She pointed to items in the President’s $6 trillion budget blueprint that are immediately unacceptable:
- A 16 percent increase over current funding for domestic programs.
- Just a 1.7 percent increase for the U.S. military, which doesn’t even keep up with inflation.
- Level funding for the Department of Homeland Security—the agency responsible for managing the ongoing border crisis.
- Increased funding to support gun violence research and policy recommendations that threaten Second Amendment rights.
- Rolling back the Hyde Amendment, the long-standing prohibition against using tax dollars to fund abortions.
- Projected annual deficits exceeding $1 trillion for at least 10 years, even with Biden tax hikes.
The full Biden budget proposal can be read here.
Frank Corder
