03.11.24

Grassley Redlines President Biden’s Budget Proposal

Biden delivers his $7.3 trillion budget to Congress one month behind schedule

WASHINGTON – Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) issued the below statement on President Biden’s costly Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget released today, over a month past its statutory due date.

“President Biden’s FY 2025 budget is chock full of corner-cutting to circumvent congressional spending caps and presents short-sighted plans to burn through Americans’ pocketbooks. That combination is sure to yield severe long-term consequences.

“This administration’s irresponsible fiscal and regulatory record have wreaked havoc on our economy. Thanks to Bidenomics, families will pay thousands of dollars more every year just to cover higher costs of living. Meanwhile, President Biden plans to shelve tax relief for hardworking American families. And soon, the federal government will have to funnel more tax revenue towards interest than beneficial programs.

“The American Dream is farther out of reach with every passing year of Biden’s presidency. We must reverse course and address the nation’s ballooning debt, to rescue future generations from even greater economic harm,” Grassley said.  

Fast Facts on Biden’s FY 2025 Budget Request

Soaring Debts and Deficits

  • Doubling down on irresponsible spending. Over the next 10 years, the Biden budget would spend $86.6 trillion, including $2.5 trillion for new mandatory spending proposals.
  • A fiscal record that’s nothing to brag about. Despite President Biden’s false claims of reducing the deficit, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates deficits between 2021 and 2031 will be $5.5 trillion – or 38 percent – higher than the agency projected when Biden first took office. The increase in deficits under this administration’s watch would be even greater if not for the discretionary spending caps congressional Republicans sought and enacted through the Fiscal Responsibility Act, as well as the Supreme Court’s decision deeming President Biden’s student loan transfer scheme unconstitutional.
  • President Biden ignores our growing debt. Biden’s budget would increase debt held by the public from $26.2 trillion in 2023 to $45.1 trillion by 2034. As a share of U.S. GDP, this equates to 106 percent, rivaling the historic high set in the wake of World War II. Gross debt rises from $33 trillion in 2023 to $52.7 trillion by 2034.
  • Massive deficits stretch far into the future. President Biden proposes $16.3 trillion in cumulative deficits over the next 10 years, with annual deficits of $1.8 trillion in 2025 and $1.7 trillion in 2034.  

Direct Household Impacts

  • Borrowing costs threaten future generations. The Biden administration’s reckless overspending will cause interest costs to further explode, from $658 billion in 2023 to $1.5 trillion in 2034. Interest costs will overtake discretionary spending on defense in 2024. Over the 2025-2034 window, interest costs will total a staggering $12.2 trillion.
  • Trillions in tax hikes. President Biden is planning to shelve tax relief for working families by letting the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expire next year. This would increase taxes on individuals who make under $400,000 annually, violating Biden’s repeated pledge that no one earning less would pay another penny in federal taxes. In fact, President Biden is proposing $5 trillion more in new and expanded taxes. His budget would bring taxes as a share of the economy to levels Americans have only ever experienced during World War II.
  • More gimmicks, fewer cures. The Biden Budget fails to put major trust fund programs on a sustainable path, instead kicking the can down the road with accounting gimmicks, tax increases and price controls that will reduce life-saving drugs and treatments.

Ignoring Congressionally-Mandated Spending Caps

  • Busting the budget cap. The President proposes budget gimmicks and accounting tricks to spend billions above the Fiscal Responsibility Act’s nondefense spending cap for 2025.
  • Crumbs for defense. Despite spending billions of taxpayer dollars above the nondefense ceiling, the budget limits defense expenditures to cap levels, followed by funding levels that fails to keep up with inflation.

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