Washington (EFE).- The president of the United States, Joe Biden, presents a proposed budget for 2024 that is destined to conquer the working class with tax increases for the rich and more funds for social programs.
The president offered details about his budget proposal, whose approval depends on Congress, in a fiery speech at a union hall in Philadelphia, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
“My budget is to invest in the United States, in the entire United States, including those places and people that were forgotten,” Biden cried on a stage in which messages such as “Invest in the US” could be seen from behind. and “Strong unions”.
The president promised the assistants that he will continue fighting for them and said that “still” there is work to be done.
The budget is a reflection of the political priorities of Biden, who has not yet officially announced his campaign for re-election in the 2024 presidential election but is expected to do so in the coming months.
The main idea of the text is to raise taxes on the rich and end subsidies to energy, pharmaceutical and cryptocurrency companies with the aim of financing greater social spending, while reducing the public deficit by three trillion. dollars over the next decade.
Biden seeks to raise 4,700 trillion dollars with higher taxes, as a tax increase for those who earn more than 400,000 million dollars a year, in what would mean a reversal of the tax reform that was approved in 2017 under the Government of Donald Trump (2017-2021).
Focus on social programs
In his budget proposal, the president asks Congress to approve 6.8 trillion dollars, 0.6 trillion more than the 6.2 trillion that the US Legislature approved last year.
Biden’s proposal collects more than 1 trillion dollars for housing aid, for the Medicaid health program for people with low resources and for investments in the education of the little ones, making the 4 million children under four years of age in USA can go to school for free.
The president also wants to raise enough funds so that the Medicare health care system for people over 65 can stay in place for another 25 years.
In addition, the budget seeks to reduce the price of drugs, increase scholarships for college and restore a tax credit that would give each family $3,600 per child per year, a measure very popular among Americans and now stands at $2,000. for son.
Special funds for China and the war in Ukraine
Most of the text is dedicated to these social programs, although there are also parts dedicated to foreign policy with a special focus on China and the war in Ukraine.
The approval of the proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 (from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024) is usually seen as the beginning of the president’s negotiations with Congress, the only body with the authority to approve the budget.
The 182-page text has already been rejected by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, who in a statement called Biden’s proposal to invest in social programs “extreme left”.
Republicans have accused Biden of excessive spending and have been threatening for months to block the suspension of the public debt ceiling, which would make the United States default on its national debt for the first time in its history.
In January, the United States reached a debt level of 31.4 trillion dollars and the Government estimates that it will run out of funds to pay its debts between July and September.
Biden in his budget did not make any of the cuts that the Republicans had requested and even increased funding for many social programs.
