Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04), Vice Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, released the following statement in response to President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget request submitted to Congress today.
“President Biden’s budget request to Congress once again misses the mark,” said Cole. “In a divided government, he must come to the table to negotiate and find common ground with House Republicans. Unfortunately, he has chosen not to do so. Once again, he has proposed too much domestic spending and not enough defense spending.
“While President Biden requested more in defense spending from last fiscal year, due to inflation, this number is still an effective cut. We live in a dangerous world and with growing tensions around the globe, this budget only shows that this administration is unwilling to prepare our military to confront the wide range of strategic threats we face. As this budget proposal only includes topline numbers, I eagerly expect the Biden Administration to follow up with details we need to fully evaluate his national security investment priorities.
“To pay for the costly domestic initiatives within this proposal, the president has proposed significant tax increases of $3 trillion on American individuals and American businesses. This includes a corporate tax rate increase to 28 percent from 21 percent, making the U.S. rate among the highest in the developed world and hindering the prosperity of businesses of every size. Indeed, 70 percent of the companies that would be hit by this tax increase are small businesses. His proposal even calls for individuals making less than $400,000 a year to pay higher taxes, despite his promise to not raise taxes on these income earners. At a time when the United States government has more tax revenue coming in than at any other time, it is wrong to raise taxes on Americans and businesses that are already struggling under the crushing weight of inflation. Moreover, his proposed 15 percent increase for the IRS’s budget – on top of the $80 billion he already gave them through his misnamed Inflation Reduction Act – will unleash a new wave of audits that threatens to harass hard-working Americans.
“Furthermore, despite President Biden claiming to have found religion on cutting the deficit, his own budget projects the deficit rising from $1.38 trillion in 2022 to $2.04 trillion in 2033. In that time, the national debt will grow by nearly $20 trillion to 110 percent of our Gross Domestic Product, up from 97 percent.
“President Biden’s budget shows just how out of touch he is with the real issues our country is facing. As we begin the appropriations process, I look forward to working with my colleagues to responsibly fund the government. While this process will require careful consideration, we must find areas both Democrats and Republicans can agree on. Americans have been crushed under runaway inflation caused by Democrats’ reckless spending throughout the past two years and we cannot continue down that road.”
