Biden budget seeks big deficit cuts in challenge to GOP

With the government at risk of defaulting, President Joe Biden on Thursday will make his opening offer in a high-stakes debate over federal finances as he proposes a federal budget that would cut deficits by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade.

It’s part of a broader attempt by the president to call out House Republicans, who are demanding severe cuts to federal spending in return for lifting the government’s legal borrowing limit. But the GOP has no counteroffer so far, other than a flat “no” to a budget plan that could form the policy spine of Biden’s yet-to-be-declared campaign for reelection in 2024.

“We see this as a value statement,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday. “This is something that shows the American people that we take this very seriously when we think about the fiscal responsibility, when we think about how do we move forward.”

Biden’s package of tax and spending priorities is unlikely to pass the House or Senate as proposed. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., predicted in advance that the plan “will not see the light of day,” a sign that it might primarily serve as a messaging document going into the 2024 elections.