Big Spender Biden

At the end of last month, President Joe Biden sent a $6 trillion budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2022. Proposing the highest spending levels since World War II, the price tag alone is utterly outrageous and unrealistic. And while Congress holds the purse strings and is ultimately responsible for providing the annual funding for the federal government, the president's budget request reveals his radical priorities and proves his total disregard for fiscal responsibility.

First, instead of focusing on urgent priorities for all Americans, President Biden's budget request elevates controversial policies over pressing needs like strengthening our national defense and bolstering tools to address and manage the crisis at our southern border. In fact, his budget calls for billions of dollars to fund progressive policies like Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and those outlined in his so-called American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan while recommending an effective cut in funding for our military. With China and Russia growing their militaries by the day, such a move is deeply misguided.

Beyond short changing our defense and spending big on progressive policies, President Biden expects the American people to foot the bill. His budget proposes a $55 trillion tax increase on American individuals and businesses over the next decade. Moreover, the president endorsed raising the corporate income tax rate and other taxes targeting individuals, small businesses and our independent energy industries.

Despite promises made on the campaign trail not to raise taxes on those with low and middle income, the president's budget would also allow existing tax cuts to expire, which would immediately increase the tax burden on hardworking Americans. As individuals, families and small businesses continue to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, such levels of unprecedented spending and taxation would only lead to inflation, slowed economic growth and the highest national debt level in American history.

Finally, most egregious in the president's budget request is the recommended removal of the Hyde Amendment, which protects life and prevents federal taxpayer-funded abortions. Since it was first enacted in 1976, it is estimated that this provision has saved more than two million lives while protecting the conscience rights of the great majority of Americans who are opposed to publicly funded abortions for religious, moral or fiscal reasons.

Even when President Biden was serving in the United States Senate, he then expressed his support for inclusion of Hyde Amendment in appropriations bills and showed support for the provision as recently as just two years ago while campaigning for president. Moreover, it has been supported by lawmakers and signed into law by presidents of both parties every year as part of appropriations bills. To abandon support of it now reveals that he is actually the most pro-abortion president in history.

Fortunately, for the American people, Democrats in Congress do not have the majorities capable of passing this level of expansive programs on their own. In the days and weeks ahead, it is my hope that members on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers can negotiate spending that is reasonable and will not lead to financial disaster. In fact, projections included in the president's budget reveal that enacting such spending would add $17 trillion to the national debt by 2031.

Alarmingly, our country's enormous and growing debt already exceeds an astounding $28 trillion. The last thing America needs is President Biden's proposed tax-and-spend monstrosity. To be clear, navigating the coronavirus pandemic response and recovery greatly strained communities across the nation, which led to five bipartisan and massive packages to support emergency efforts. But the situation has changed dramatically since then. Communities are reopening. People are getting vaccinated. Life is starting to return to a relative normal. Rather than proposing trillions in spending on non-pandemic related programs and initiatives, the president should be focused on fostering the nation's economic recovery.

Sadly, Americans are already suffering through the highest inflation on record in 13 years. With this budget request, the Biden Administration has demonstrated yet again that its solution for everything is to tax, spend and then spend some more. Such misguided and unnecessary expansion of government is not sustainable for America's future. Moreover, we simply cannot afford it.