The Republican wing of the US Congress has made it clear that it intends to reject the 2024 Budget Plan proposal presented by President Joseph Biden on March 9, which will face a difficult process for its acceptance.
The president’s budget plan includes repealing tax cuts for the “richest” and raising the corporate tax rate — reversing cuts made by former President Donald Trump in 2017 — for those making more than $400,000 a year, with the goal of funding programs and services like Medicare, which provides government-funded health insurance for people 65 and older, and Medicaid, which helps low-income people.
The proposal also includes an investment to guarantee free preschool education and alleviate the cost of child care.
"My budget is a milestone to rebuild America in a fiscally responsible way without leaving anyone behind," Biden explained when presenting the budget plan, but the final decision is up to Congress.
Chad Stone, an economist and head of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, explained at a press conference organized by Ethnic Media Services in which experts met to discuss President Joe Biden's proposal for the 2024 budget plan, which is very difficult to know what will happen with the decision of Congress since the Republicans have already declared that they reject the proposal.
"The president is going to have to be flexible in his positions to move things forward," Stone said.
Elizabeth Lower-Basch, deputy executive director of policy at the Center for Law and Social Policy, noted that the proposal seeks to make significant investments in families, children, workers, and low-income people, in addition to returning the Child Tax Credit, which was part of the Economic Rescue Plan initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic and which provided around $3,600 per child to families when filing their tax returns.
"This is the largest investment we've ever seen in a proposal," he said, noting that there will be many struggles to get it approved by Congress.
Finally, Andrew Eschtruth, associate director of external relations at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, said that although the president did not provide details about the budget in relation to Social Security, he did assure that there would be no reduction in benefits and that he would work with Congress to strengthen it.
The president's proposal will no doubt face some struggles, as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, has rejected the plan.
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