The report for the fiscal 2023 budget is out.
President Biden seems to be proud of the outcome. Besides, different officials of his administration have touted this as an immense achievement in press briefings.
Although it looks like a great achievement on paper, it was not of Biden’s doing.
Besides, if Biden had his way with his original plans, the reduction he is parading around with would be much more reduced.
Biden claimed Build Back Better would not add to the national debt or the budget deficit
The CBO determined it would increase the deficit by $3 trillion from 2022 to 2031—and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan would add $256 billion to the deficit pic.twitter.com/6ny9Lf8w8a
— The Daily Signal (@DailySignal) March 2, 2022
Biden’s Failed Spending Plan
Biden toiled and labored to have his big spending plan passed last year. However, the Build Back Better Act couldn’t fly as he met opposition from Republicans and notable names in his camp.
Worthy of note is the president had some noble intentions in the bill, but the overall cost and how to pay back the bill were some of the major issues it faced in the Senate.
Senator Manchin was one of the top opposers of the bill from the Democrat Party. Manchin was particularly pressed about the inflation the bill would cause and how it would be paid back.
Besides, there were some other bill components that Manchin wasn’t happy with. Because of that, Biden had no choice but to cut the three trillion dollar bill to a 1.7 trillion dollar one.
However, because of the numerous cuts in the bill, other senators like Senator Bernie Sanders had to clip their support for the bill.
Sanders was particularly livid because he wanted Biden to expand Medicare with the bill. Yet, that was cut-off, leading to Biden’s mega spending bill falling off.
What if the Bill Passed?
Just as we mentioned before, if the bill had passed, then this is not the budget deficit we would be talking about.
The Senior Director of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Marc Goldwein, had a lot to say about the situation.
He said the Biden administration is taking credit for the massive deficit surge. He noted if the government hadn’t passed any law, we would have an identical deficit number in 2022 to the one coming in 2023.
The budget deficit has increased by 1.8 trillion dollars since Biden became President. If you estimate that the deficit will rise by 2.1 trillion, and it only goes up 1.8 trillion, then the deficit has still gone up by 1.8 trillion…
— Terry (@Sicilian1926) March 29, 2022
Reports have it that the national deficit will rise by $1.2 trillion this year.
It was $2.8 trillion last year and $3.1 trillion in the previous year. However, those figures in the previous years are higher than normal. This is majorly due to COVID-19-related spending.
The spending included the American Rescue Plan, supported by Biden, but opposed by congressional Republicans.
Goldwein was also quick to note that the Biden administration is silly for taking credit for cutting the deficit caused by its own policies.
He also added that if Biden had his way with the Build Back Better Act, the 2023 budget deficit would most likely be around the $200 billion figure.
In the end, the Biden administration should stop parroting the reduction in budget deficit as a “win.”
