Manchin criticizes Biden for placing 'ideological agenda' over debt ceiling negotiations

Cami Mondeaux

March 30, 09:13 AM March 30, 09:16 AM

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) hit out against President Joe Biden on Wednesday, accusing the president of pushing his “ideological agenda” rather than meeting with members of Congress to address inflation and the looming debt ceiling crisis.

In an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal, Manchin criticized Biden over his administration’s implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark bill the West Virginia Democrat helped construe to reduce the country’s deficit and promote energy security. However, Manchin accused Biden administration officials of abusing the Inflation Reduction Act to increase spending levels unilaterally, calling the act a “betrayal.”

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“While all parties have a responsibility to negotiate in good faith, recent actions make clear to me that the Biden administration is determined to pursue an ideological agenda rather than confront the clear and present danger that debts and deficits pose to our nation,” Manchin wrote. “Instead of implementing the law as intended, unelected ideologues, bureaucrats and appointees seem determined to violate and subvert the law to advance a partisan agenda that ignores both energy and fiscal security.”

Manchin specifically accused the Biden administration of ignoring stipulations in the Inflation Reduction Act to expand fossil fuel energy by redefining “domestic energy” to align with its own clean energy initiatives.

“The administration is attempting at every turn to implement the bill it wanted, not the bill Congress actually passed,” he wrote. “Ignoring the debt and deficit implications of these actions as the time nears to raise the debt ceiling isn’t only wrong, it’s policy and political malpractice.”

The West Virginia senator urged Biden to reverse those actions, offering a two-step plan to rein in the so-called “extremism.”

First, Manchin called on Biden to meet with “fiscally minded” Republicans and Democrats to negotiate a solution to the debt ceiling crisis, urging the president to end his stalemate with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to come to an agreement. Biden and McCarthy initially met in January to discuss the debt ceiling, but the pair have not met since — with Biden maintaining he would not negotiate further until Republicans release their budget for the next fiscal year.

Manchin criticized Biden for his refusal to meet, urging the president to find areas in his own budget proposal to negotiate.

“While we can all acknowledge that raising the debt limit is an absolute necessity and Republicans shouldn’t threaten otherwise, are we seriously to believe there is no room to negotiate?” Manchin wrote. “Does the federal government operate so efficiently and effectively that there truly isn’t a dollar of waste, fraud or abuse? Let’s get serious.”

Manchin also pressed Biden to instruct his administration officials to implement the Inflation Reduction Act “as written” rather than interpreting its provisions to advance their own agenda.

“The president has the power, today, to direct his administration to follow the law, as well as to sit down with congressional leaders and negotiate meaningful, serious reforms to the federal budget,” Manchin wrote. “Failing to do so may score political points with left-wing partisans, but generations of Americans will ultimately pay the price.”

Biden responded to Manchin’s criticisms on Thursday morning, noting the president and senator share a “strong and productive relationship.” However, Biden did not indicate whether he would call for a meeting with congressional leaders.

"We are proud of the Inflation Reduction Act and our shared goals it achieves — promoting America’s energy security, strengthening supply chains, creating good-paying manufacturing jobs, and investing in energy communities and towns across America that have been left behind,” the White House said in a statement.

Republicans grill top White House official over Biden's 2024 budget

Cami Mondeaux

March 15, 02:24 PM March 15, 02:24 PM

GOP senators tore into President Joe Biden’s budget for fiscal 2024, accusing the president of being too vague in his proposals without addressing several of the country’s top fiscal concerns.

Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee grilled Biden official Shalanda Young on Wednesday, pressing the director of the Office of Management and Budget to clarify the proposals included in Biden’s budget request.

Released on Thursday, the budget reignited a standoff between the Republican-led House and Biden over the looming debt ceiling crisis. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has demanded 2024 spending cuts to lift the federal borrowing limit, while the White House insists on a clean debt ceiling increase.

The impasse has raised fears that the country will default if the two parties cannot reach a compromise before a summer deadline.

The senators at Wednesday's hearing criticized Biden’s top-line budget number of $6.9 trillion as being unrealistic and putting the country at risk of worsened inflation.

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“Do you believe excessive government spending and running big deficits causes inflation?” asked Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL).

“I believe one thing does not cause inflation, and our base of —” Young answered before being cut off.

“That’s all right, ‘no’ is an answer,” Scott interjected. “So, that’s a no.”

Scott pressed further, questioning Young on whether she believed Biden’s proposal would balance the budget and eliminate the country’s deficit over the next 10 years. The Florida senator then criticized Biden for proposing a 55% budget increase compared to pre-pandemic levels, calling it a “staggering” number.

“Even if you go back to 2019, the GDP has not gone up 55%,” Scott said. “The population is only up 1.8%, and your budget is up to 55%.”

Several senators specifically targeted Biden’s proposals to increase taxes for the wealthiest taxpayers.

His plan, which suggests $5.5 trillion in new taxes on high-income earners, would implement a 25% minimum tax on those worth $100 million or more. The budget would also increase corporate tax rates from 21% to 28%.

“You said the wealthy ‘were going to begin to pay their fair share.’ At what point will you consider the wealthy paying their fair share?” asked Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI). “Step away from rhetoric. At what point will you be satisfied that the top 1% are paying their fair share?”

As part of his budget plan, Biden also proposed a plan to increase “modestly” the Medicare tax rate for taxpayers earning an annual income of more than $400,000 from 3.8% to 5%. Those increases would go toward extending Medicare's solvency for 25 years without cutting any of the program’s benefits or increasing its costs, according to the White House.

The proposal comes as Biden has accused Republicans of seeking to cut spending for Medicare and Social Security benefits, hoping to use the attack as fodder in the 2024 election cycle.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) homed in on those claims, accusing Biden of using Social Security as a political attack while doing nothing himself to protect the insurance program.

“I'm not aware of anyone in this category, but are you aware of any one of the elected officials we have in the federal government or Congress or anywhere else that currently proposed cutting benefits for Social Security of any kind?” Romney asked.

“Senator, I have heard of proposals —” Young began before Romney cut in.

“No, no. You've heard of proposals from a current senator, currently, a congressman proposing to cut benefits to Social Security?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “Have they changed their position? Maybe.”

Biden, in particular, has focused on a plan released by Scott that would sunset all federal legislation unless reauthorized by Congress every five years. The senator, who insists he never intended to put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block, amended his plan last month to exclude those programs explicitly.

Romney pushed back on Young's assertion, calling such claims from the Biden administration “simply wrong” and “offensive in the extreme.”

Going further, the Utah senator pressed Young on how Biden would save the Social Security program from going insolvent over the next decade, arguing his proposed budget fails to outline a plan.

“Why does the president’s budget not lay out how you would protect Social Security?” Romney asked. “Why have you not proposed any plan to protect Social Security?”

“We look forward to seeing a plan that suggests that Social Security is off the table,” Young said. “This president believes the biggest threat to Social Security is those who want to cut it.”

The tense exchanges come as GOP lawmakers seek to balance the federal budget and eliminate the country’s deficit over the next 10 years.

Democrats and Republicans have butted heads on how to rein in federal deficits, with GOP lawmakers pushing for spending cuts as a solution. However, Republicans' vow not to cut spending for Social Security or Medicare has put lawmakers in a tough spot as they consider what areas of the budget to slash.

In the case that lawmakers decide not to cut any Social Security spending, the government would need to reduce its noninterest spending by 41% over the next decade, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office released earlier this week. Shielding both Social Security and Medicare from spending cuts, however, would result in the government needing to cut its noninterest spending by another 16% on top of that.

Democrats have hit Republicans' posturing in the budget standoff, arguing their math “doesn’t add up.”

Democrats have similarly vowed not to cut spending for Social Security and Medicare, instead calling for tax increases on the wealthy to help pay for the programs. Republicans have lashed out against those proposals, maintaining the country's budget proposal is a "spending problem" rather than a revenue one.

Biden goes to war against Freedom Caucus ahead of debt ceiling showdown

Naomi Lim

March 15, 05:57 AM March 15, 06:20 AM

President Joe Biden has a new boogeyman as he and congressional Republicans draw their political battle lines over the 2024 budget and debt ceiling.

But as Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) did before it, the House Freedom Caucus is defending its budget against a well-coordinated attack as the country contends with the prospect of a default this summer.

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When it comes to being honest with the public, Biden "never fails to fail," according to House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) of his influential group's "budget," which, more accurately, summarizes its negotiation demands.

"Confronted with his abysmal economic record and doubling down on his crippling spending proposals, Biden goes right to another fear and smear campaign," Perry told the Washington Examiner. "For him to fearmonger using firefighters, police officers, and healthcare as his pawns is a disgusting and disingenuous distraction from the real issues facing American families and job creators.”

The House Freedom Caucus and Perry have at least one partner in the Senate: Scott. Biden, in addition to some Republicans, has spent the past year criticizing Scott for his "Rescue America" plan, a response to Biden's "American Rescue" framework, which originally pitched reauthorizing federal laws every five years. Biden responded by saying this would regularly put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block. In reaction to the scrutiny, Scott edited his website to read that the reauthorization provision "was never intended to apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the U.S. Navy."

"We need to bring fiscal sanity back to Washington and I’m standing with my colleagues in the House who are showing that they give a damn about this country and will fight to fix it," the senator wrote in a statement Tuesday. "The debt ceiling is our opportunity to get something done and we cannot squander it by caving to the reckless and dangerous wishes of Biden and the Democrats.”

But Perry and Scott have not dissuaded Biden and Democrats from undermining the House Freedom Caucus's budget, particularly in the absence of a formal counteroffer from the House Budget Committee Republicans, which is expected later this spring.

Denouncing the House Freedom Caucus's budget, which, among other ideas, seeks to reintroduce “Clinton-era work requirements on welfare programs," overlooks how many members will be able to raise money off of Biden and Democrats' complaints. At the same time, they hope condemning the 45 lawmakers will pressure House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to deal with them on the debt ceiling, at a minimum.

The House Freedom Caucus's budget "speaks" to McCarthy's "political weakness," according to one senior Democratic official.

"He essentially sold his soul to win over the speakership to the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Gaetz, and Scott Perry, and all of these people, like Chip Roy, people who, at the end of the day, they feel, rightfully, can flex political muscles on the speaker of the house," he said.

For the official, the budget and debt ceiling "are intrinsically linked" to the 2024 election cycle, with Biden having "a positive, affirmative case to make," while Republicans "cannot figure out what they want to cut the most." For instance, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and speculated White House hopeful Mike Pence have endorsed Social Security and Medicare reductions on the campaign trail, he added.

"These things all go hand in hand, and what House Republicans, Senate Republicans are demonstrating to the American people is that if Republicans have the White House, if Republicans gain control, these are the priorities that they will have that are just wildly out of step with what voters are looking for and what families are looking for from their government," he said.

Biden reiterated how budgets reflect values during a fundraiser Monday night after releasing his almost $7 trillion request last week. In that document, Biden repeated his support for an expanded child tax credit, a universal $35 insulin price cap, and a 12-week national paid family and medical leave program, as well as a 25% billionaires minimum tax, a 28% corporate tax, and a 4% stock buyback tax.

Biden asserted Monday that the House Freedom Caucus represents "the extremes" and its budget would decrease veterans benefits, but "it won't cut subsidies for Big Pharma" or the deficit.

"They're not the majority, but they will be able to, I think, in [the] House, be able to be successful in terms of what they're going to do," he said. "What we're going to do is make sure that they have to make their case. ... Look, the stakes are too high for our economy, for our democracy, for our standing in the world. And I intend to build on the progress and finish the job we set out to do."

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, in addition to top spokespeople from White House communications director Ben LaBolt, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and deputy press secretary Andrew Bates, has amplified Biden's message. In a Tuesday memo, for example, Bates emphasized how the House Freedom Caucus aims to dismantle the Inflation Reduction Act's manufacturing and energy initiatives. Young has also accused the group of "playing politics with the full faith and credit of the United States."

"When it comes to spending and what the appropriate level is, this president's happy to talk to anyone," she told CNN last weekend. "As a matter of fact, we funded the government on a bipartisan basis in December. Let's do it again. But let's not hold the debt ceiling hostage to really draconian cuts, all to help the wealthiest in this country, which we saw released by the Freedom Caucus.”

Social Security cuts vs. tax hikes: The Biden budget battle lines are drawn

W. James Antle III

March 10, 06:46 AM March 10, 06:46 AM

Whatever happens next in the debt ceiling fight between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans, the battle lines for 2024 are already drawn.

Biden is saying Republicans will gut Social Security and Medicare while the GOP shoots back that the president is going to raise taxes.

For as much as politics have changed in the last eight years, the argument between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is one that Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill would have recognized.

REPUBLICANS CONTROL THE HOUSE. NOW WHAT CAN THEY DO?

Biden workshopped his lines on the big entitlement programs for senior citizens on the campaign trail before the midterm elections last year.

Republicans have railed against tax-and-spend liberal Democrats since Biden was a senator from Delaware voting against the Reagan tax cuts.

But the battle has taken on new urgency now that Biden has unveiled his federal budget proposal while demanding that the new Republican majority in the House do the same.

“So, I want to make it clear. I'm ready to meet with the speaker anytime — tomorrow, if he has his budget,” Biden said in Philadelphia. “Lay it down. Tell me what you want to do. I'll show you what I want to do. See what we can agree on. What we don’t agree on, let’s see what we — we vote on.”

But Biden has already presented his version of what the Republicans’ budget will be, despite their denials.

“Let’s be clear about another key point of my budget,” he said. “I guarantee you I will protect Social Security and Medicare without any change. Guaranteed. I won’t allow it to be gutted or eliminated, as MAGA Republicans have threatened to do.”

The Republican budget, it seems, is either a caricature of a Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) proposal or something out of Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential campaign.

“MAGA Republicans’ proposal is not an answer on Social Security,” Biden continued. “And my budget will not cut benefits. And it will — definitely won’t sunset programs, like some of my MAGA Republican friends want to do.”Scott recently revised his plan to specifically exempt Social Security and Medicare, in response to its becoming a Biden punching bag.

Biden did acknowledge Republicans’ State of the Union denials that they will cut Social Security or Medicare, saying they had better keep their word.

“Well, guess what?” he said. “They’re all on camera.”

Republicans have their own characterizations of Biden’s plans, emphasizing that they include tax increases.

“President Biden’s ‘budget’ is dead on arrival,” Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) said in a statement. “It’s a campaign wishlist of tax hikes and fuzzy math that would do nothing to help Hoosiers struggling with Biden’s inflation crisis.”

“Any budget request that focuses on tax hikes and more spending rather than cutting spending and easing the economic burden on this country is deeply unserious — this budget doesn’t have an ounce of serious proposals in it,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) said in a statement. “The federal government doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.”

The Republican National Committee circulated a clip of Biden making this Walter Mondale-like statement in remarks previewing the budget late last month: “I’m gonna raise some taxes.”

Mondale lost 49 states in the 1984 presidential election.

If voters believe the tax increases will be confined to the wealth and won’t curtail economic growth, the political consequences for Biden and the Democrats may be limited.

But if Social Security and Medicare are the third rail of American politics, raising taxes isn’t far behind.

The president’s job approval rating is already more than 20 points underwater, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.

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Further complicating matters, the battle of the budgets isn’t just about 2024. In the coming months, the debt ceiling will need to be addressed. That’s a real deadline, not just political theater.

Until then, it’s tax increases versus cutting entitlements to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy — a perennial partisan political fight as old as Biden’s career in Washington.

Biden budget reveals president's top priorities to voters ahead of 2024

Cami Mondeaux

March 09, 08:10 AM March 09, 08:10 AM

President Joe Biden is set to release his budget proposal for the next fiscal year on Thursday, targeting four key areas as he courts voters ahead of his expected reelection campaign.

Biden is expected to release the long-awaited budget around noon during a visit to Pennsylvania as he unveils some of his top campaign priorities to the critical swing state. The budget release is largely symbolic, as it’s unlikely that Congress will approve the proposal in its current form, but it serves as campaign fodder as Biden teases a reelection bid.

BIDEN ASKS WEALTHY TO PAY ‘LITTLE BIT MORE’ IN TAXES TO AVOID MEDICARE INSOLVENCY

Here are the four key areas Biden will target in his budget proposal:

Higher taxes for the wealthy to reduce deficit over next decade

One of Biden’s key proposals is to implement higher taxes for the wealthiest taxpayers as a way to reduce the federal deficit by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade.

Biden will announce a 25% tax increase on households that are worth more than $100 million as a way to tax unrealized capital gains that often go overlooked, according to the New York Times. By doing that, the White House hopes to raise about $360 billion in revenue over the next 10 years.

He’ll also call for higher taxes for oil and gas companies, eliminating subsidies that have allowed the industry to benefit from so-called “special tax treatment.” Biden will also propose to reverse Trump-era tax cuts for high earners and corporations, raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.

Biden’s not expected to request much funding to go toward COVID-19, signaling the president is ready to phase out its emergency response over the coming months.

Decrease costs for families

Biden is especially expected to target families in his budget proposal, seeking to reduce costs in a number of areas. His budget proposal is expected to pour funds into child care and education, seeking to allocate $22.1 billion into early care and education programs.

Biden will also increase pressure to reduce the cost of insulin, seeking a maximum cap of $35 a month — reviving past debates and backing Republicans into a corner over the matter. That proposal builds on previous efforts by Biden to cap insulin prices for Medicare beneficiaries in his Inflation Reduction Act, seeking to extend that to all Americans.

Extend Medicare and Social Security benefits

Biden’s budget will seek to extend Medicare and Social Security protections for 25 years without cutting any of the program’s benefits or increasing costs. The president hopes to achieve those goals by “modestly” increasing tax rates for taxpayers earning an annual income of more than $400,000 from 3.8% to 5%, according to a memo sent by the White House earlier this week.

His proposal would also seek to close loopholes that allow some high-income earners to avoid paying the 3.8% Medicare tax. In doing so, Biden’s plan would extend Medicare’s benefits until 2050 without cutting benefits.

The budget proposal comes as lawmakers are considering ways to salvage Medicare and Social Security benefits amid concerns the programs will go insolvent in the next few years. Biden has repeatedly accused Republicans of seeking to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits, hoping to use the attack as fodder in the 2024 election cycle.

“The Unity Agenda”

Biden is expected to request a defense budget of more than $835 billion in Thursday’s proposal, marking one of the largest peacetime defense budgets in U.S. history.

He’ll also press lawmakers to invest in what he considers a “unity agenda,” proposing to pour money into cancer research, mental health services, and combating the opioid epidemic. Biden may also revive efforts to increase funding for community college, following through with previous proposals that have failed to make their way through Congress.