Biden’s Budget Is Great for Everyday Americans, But $753 Billion for Pentagon Is Inexcusable
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, President Joe Biden released his $6 trillion budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2022 and the ensuing decade. Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“After four years of an administration whose signature legislative achievement was the largest wealth transfer to the rich in U.S. history, President Biden’s budget for fiscal year 2022 demonstrates a commitment to everyday Americans and to delivering on his promises, including to advance racial justice and meaningfully address the climate crisis.
“This is a budget that says, as a nation, we should do the things that make our country more just, fair, and prosperous — and that we know the richest nation in the history of the world, with historic levels of wealth and income concentration, can afford to do those things. That’s the right way to budget and it marks a break not just from Trump but from wrongheaded conventional wisdom going back decades. The sweeping $6 trillion proposals, if passed, will be a major boost to the nation’s infrastructure and substantially expand the social safety net. This budget proposal takes important steps to boost domestic spending in the manner we need in order to build back better and provide new investments in education, transportation, and fighting climate change.
“What is out of step in the budget is the$753 billion request for Pentagon. Withdrawing U.S. troops from the nearly 20-year war in Afghanistan should produce billions in cost savings and result in less money for the Pentagon, not more. As the budget now makes its way to Congress, appropriators must reallocate Pentagon excess away from military contractors and back into programs that meet true human needs.”