[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 46 (Thursday, March 14, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S2379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        President Biden's Budget

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, President Biden released his budget on 
Monday, and, predictably, it was filled with the same old, tired, tax-
and-spending proposals--so much spending and so many taxes.
  All told, the President's budget raises taxes by a staggering $5 
trillion. You heard that right--$5 trillion. His corporate tax hike and 
capital gains tax proposals would both raise rates higher than those in 
communist China.
  Many small businesses would see a hefty tax hike under the 
President's proposal, and most Americans would see an income tax hike, 
as his budget would allow current income tax rates to expire after 
2025--so much for the President's commitment to not raising taxes for 
anyone making under $400,000.
  Something President Biden and Democrats never seem to understand is 
that raising taxes has consequences. The corporate tax hike that 
President Biden would like you to believe will be borne by CEOs and 
CFOs--in fact, that tax hike would hit working Americans hard.
  Studies have shown that workers bear a huge percentage of the burden 
of corporate income taxes. Impacts aren't just limited to workers 
employed by corporations. Corporate tax hikes can hit all Americans in 
the form of higher prices for goods and services.
  Or take President Biden's proposed tax hike on gas and oil, which 
would be on top--on top--of the energy tax hikes he has already 
imposed. Taxing energy can drive up the cost of Americans' energy bills 
and make it more expensive every time Americans have to fill up their 
cars--not exactly a desirable outcome when Americans have already seen 
huge increases in energy prices under President Biden.
  As I said, all of those tax hikes are accompanied by a lot of new 
spending proposals as President Biden continues his mission to increase 
the size--and the intrusiveness--of the Federal Government. His budget 
includes massive new spending programs and big increases for government 
departments and Agencies like the IRS.
  Yet even as the President uses budget gimmicks and accounting tricks 
to blow through the nondefense spending cap for 2025, he makes no 
attempt to use any of his budgeting sleight of hand to address the 
serious readiness problems facing our military.
  The President spent ample time in his State of the Union Address 
talking about the dangerous world in which we live, and he is right. 
Yet his budget makes little attempt to ensure that our military is 
equipped to meet that dangerous world. We have military services well 
below their recruitment targets. We are behind on shipbuilding and ship 
maintenance. There is a persistent pilot shortage. In a number of 
cases, we have too few mission-capable aircraft. And we are not doing 
an adequate job of maintaining the kind of supply we need of munitions. 
Yet President Biden is happy to blow through the nondefense spending 
cap but can't find an extra dollar in his budget for our military. It 
says a lot about the President's priorities.
  It is also worth noting that the President's budget makes absolutely 
no attempt to ensure that Social Security is protected for current and 
future retirees. With Social Security on track to run out of money to 
pay full benefits in 2033, you would think that the President would be 
focused on safeguarding this program rather than creating new 
government programs that have to be funded. But, clearly, you would be 
wrong.
  This year, the interest on our national debt is projected to cost 
more than any government expenditure except Social Security. Let me 
just repeat that. This year, the interest on our national debt is 
projected to cost more than any government expenditure except Social 
Security. That is just the interest on our debt. When the interest 
alone on your national debt is the second highest line item in your 
budget, you know you are on an unsustainable fiscal path. And it is the 
height of fiscal irresponsibility for the President to be proposing 
massive new government programs when we are going into debt just to 
afford the ones we already have.
  I could go on. I could talk about the President's request for $8 
billion to hire an additional 50,000 Americans for his Climate Corps, 
like so-called ``climate resilience workers,'' or I could talk about 
the President's attempt to force American taxpayers to pay for 
abortions or the eye-wateringly large funding increase the President 
wants for the IRS.
  But I will stop here. And I hope--I hope--my colleagues will agree 
that, for the sake of the American people, the President's budget 
should be dead on arrival here in the Congress.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BUDD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.