When President Joe Biden unveiled his $5.8 trillion spending proposal on Monday, he outlined a broad vision for reducing the debt, raising taxes on the ultrawealthy and pouring money into the military, policing, public education and social services.
But what that means for Georgia — how that funding might trickle down — is still unclear. Biden’s plan is also just a starting point: a roadmap to guide Democrats in Congress as they draft a fiscal 2023 budget.
“The budget I’m releasing today sends a clear message to the American people on what we value,” he said Monday. “First, fiscal responsibility. Second, safety and security. And thirdly, the investments needed to build a better America.”
That plan has already become fodder for Republicans who say that Biden’s priorities are misaligned with the priorities of most Americans. They also complain he doesn’t do enough to reduce the national debt or address the rising prices of goods and fuel.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, a Republican from Pooler, called it “more of the same.”
“Biden’s 2023 budget harms taxpayers and job creators — we can’t spend our way out of an inflation crisis,” Carter wrote on Twitter.
Here are some examples of how Biden’s budget could affect Georgia:
- The most talked about portion of Biden’s budget was his proposal to implement a minimum 20% income tax on the top 0.1% of earning households, which he said would raise $360 billion over 10 years.
- The budget plan calls for spending $813 billion on national defense, an increase from the current $796 billion. The president says more funding is needed to protect U.S. interests across the globe. That could mean more investment at Georgia’s 13 military installations, including Fort Benning, Fort Gordon and Dobbins Air Force Base. For example, the plan lists $1.2 billion increase in funding for the Columbia Class Ballistic Missile Submarine, some of which would go to the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Camden County.
- The Atlanta-based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would also be in for huge funding increases. The president wants an infusion of $28 billion toward pandemic preparedness and an additional $2 billion to expand vaccinations for adults. The proposal also seeks $92 million to be shared by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration as part of the Cancer Moonshot project to reduce cancer death rates by at least 50% over the next 25 years.
- Atlanta’s 10 historically Black colleges and universities could see new funding from several different streams. Biden’s budget would double Pell Grant funding, which can help keep more students enrolled. The plan also would provide a $752 million increase in funding to be shared by the nation’s HBCUs and other institutions with a mission of educating students of color and those from low-income families, and $172 million for programs to increase the number of people from historically underrepresented communities working in science and engineering fields.
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