United States President Joe Biden unveiled a massive $6.8 trillion budget proposal on Thursday that addresses various issues, including the deficit, raising taxes on the rich, bolstering military spending, and increasing competitiveness with China.
The Democrat's plan is widely considered d arrival with the GOP, who have majority control of the House. However, it serves as a starting bid for lawmakers in Congress to discuss raising the debt limit and talk about a policy blueprint for Biden's widely anticipated re-election campaign.
The Democratic president made a speech on Thursday in Philadelphia where he argued that his budget was designed to reduce Americans' burden. It sharply contrasts the proposals that Republican lawmakers have offered before, which Biden said would threaten the country's social safety net programs and only worked to benefit the rich.
The Country's Deficit
As arguments among politicians continue, the Republican Party has insisted that it would only allow the government to borrow additional funds to pay its bills only if the Democratic Party has an accompanying plan to reduce the federal deficit, as per the New York Times.
The GOP's proposals tend to focus on deep spending cuts, and Biden's plan has made it clear that he and his colleagues want to increase taxes, enforce the tax code, and close tax loopholes to reduce the country's reliance on borrowed funds.
The Democratic president is also looking to negotiate more aggressively on prescription drug prices. White House officials put out a rough estimation that these changes and several other tweaks to the drug negotiation provision would result in the US government saving $200 billion over ten years. Based on the estimates, it would also reduce federal budget deficits by roughly $3 trillion over the next decade.
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Social Security and Medicare
Biden argued that his proposed budget would also work to protect Social Security and Medicare as he comes in contrast to the GOP's spending cut proposals. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy noted that House Republicans will not make any changes to either program, which has left his party with few options to eliminate the country's deficit, according to USA Today.
The two programs are known to be major drivers of the national debt, which is projected to rise by roughly $19 trillion over the next ten years. Biden's budget proposal seeks to make Medicare solvent beyond 2050. He plans to raise the Medicare tax rate for high-income earners from 3.8% to 5%.
Expands Affordable Health Care Access
The president's new proposal also invests $150 billion over the next decade to improve and expand Medicaid home and community-based services. These include personal care services, allowing seniors and other individuals with disabilities to still reside in their homes and stay active in their communities.
The budget also puts the Health Center Program in line with doubling its size as wellanding its reach. This decision comes as community health centers, which provide comprehensive services regardless of an individual's ability to pay, can serve one in three people living in poverty and one in five rural residents, said the White House.
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