WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Biden has unveiled his budget for the fiscal year 2024, with a focus on investing in America and reducing the deficit. The President’s plan involves major reforms to the individual and corporate tax codes to ensure that the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share. Additionally, the budget aims to cut wasteful spending on Big Pharma, Big Oil, and other special interests, while cracking down on systemic fraud and identity theft.
Officials say the budget proposes to cut federal spending by $160 billion by increasing the number of drugs Medicare can negotiate and bringing more drugs into the negotiation process sooner. This would also require drug companies to pay rebates when they increase prices faster than inflation. The budget, the White House said, also aims to eliminate wasteful corporate subsidies and special tax breaks, such as those given to oil and gas companies and real estate investors, which would save billions of dollars.
Congressional Republicans have rejected much of the President’s approach to reducing the debt, just as they have rejected reducing the debt by asking the wealthy and big corporations to pay their fair share in taxes. They have also proposed cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and other programs critical to seniors and middle-class and working families.
President Biden responded by stating that he will always reject cuts that take away people’s health care, raise costs for seniors, middle-class families, and students, increase poverty, or reverse economic progress.
The budget includes proposals to crack down on systemic fraud and identity theft, building on previous efforts to prevent Pandemic fraud. The President says he aims to set up an Interagency Pandemic Fraud Task Force and a Chief Prosecutor with three new Strike Forces to prevent such fraud.
The President’s budget lays out his plan to invest in America, lower costs for families, protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and reduce the deficit. Whether it will be successful in achieving these goals, however, remains to be seen.