An Overview of President Biden’s Budget Proposal

President Joe Biden recently released a $6 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2022. The budget proposal would raise total spending to $8.2 trillion by 2031. Non-defense discretionary spending would be increased by 16 percent while defense spending would increase by 1.7 percent. The proposal includes a call to increase spending on infrastructure through the American Jobs Plan and includes the American Families Plan, which is meant to address child care, universal prekindergarten, and paid family and medical leave.

The FY 2022 budget provides $52 billion for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and “provides about $1.2 billion for border infrastructure which includes: modernization of land ports of entry; investments in modern border security technology and assets; and efforts to ensure the safe and humane treatment of migrants in CBP custody,” according to the skinny discretionary budget request from April. Funding is also allocated to other needs including supporting a humane immigration system, promoting cybersecurity, and responding to domestic terrorism.

Under the proposed FY 2022 budget plan, the Department of Justice (DOJ) would receive $35.2 billion, a $1.8 billion or 5.3 percent increase from the previous year. This money is meant to strengthen federal civil rights enforcement, combat gun violence, improve the immigration court system, prevent violence against women, and promote environmental justice.

President Biden’s budget plan proposed $11.2 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a 22 percent increase from the previous year. There is also a major push to support clean energy technology through spending and tax breaks equating to $800 billion over the next decade to incentivize companies to use clean energy.

President Biden also included major healthcare reform as a part of his budget summary. These ideas include the creation of a public option health insurance plan, an effort to lower prescription drug costs, a plan to lower the age of eligibility for Medicare, and an expansion of Medicare benefits, to add vision, hearing and dental coverage. However, the budget proposal did not include the estimated costs of these changes.

Several other agencies would also see proposed increases under President Biden’s budget proposal. For example, President Biden is requesting to increase the Department of Energy’s budget by $4.3 billion, or 10 percent. Under the proposal, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would receive a budget increase of 7 percent to $28 billion.