Biden Administration Releases Budget Proposal
On April 9, 2021, President Joe Biden released his administration’s FY 2022 budget proposal, which included the smallest funding increases for the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice.
In a letter to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Shalanda D. Young, Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), explained several priorities of the proposal, writing, “Overall, the discretionary request would restore non-defense discretionary funding to 3.3 percent of GDP, roughly equal to the historical average over the last 30 years, while providing robust funding for national defense, as well as for other instruments of national power—including diplomacy, development, and economic statecraft—that enhance the effectiveness of national defense spending and promote national security.”
President Biden’s proposal would increase base federal discretionary spending by 8.4 percent compared to 2021 levels, to $1.52 trillion.
Under President Biden’s plan the Department of Homeland Security would see the smallest increase in funding of all Cabinet-level agencies, at a 0.2 percent increase. The Department of Veterans Affairs would see an 8.2 percent increase focused on suicide prevention and women’s health, and the Department of Justice would see a 5.3 percent increase to enforce civil rights, combat hate crimes, and increase grants to local law enforcement.
The budget proposal would give the Department of Justice an additional $101 million to combat domestic terrorism and $40 million would go to prosecutors who handle the workload from these cases.
Acting Director Young explained in the letter to appropriators, “The discretionary request proposes $769 billion in non-defense discretionary funding in FY 2022, a 16 percent increase over the FY 2021 enacted level, and $753 billion for national defense programs, a 1.7 percent increase.”
While former President Trump proposed cutting many agency spending levels, President Biden’s budget would increase spending by more than 10 percent in 11 of the 15 Cabinet departments. However, President Trump did propose giving $49.8 billion to DHS in discretionary funding and an additional $5.1 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) in his FY 2021 budget proposal.
President Biden’s budget plan concerns discretionary spending only, which is the part of the budget that is determined through appropriations acts. Mandatory spending, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, is not included in this plan. The administration has said expanded budget details will be released in the coming months.
President Biden’s proposal would double efforts towards suicide prevention to $540 million for veterans and expand crisis lines for veterans in need. The VA research budget would grow by 12% to about $900 million. This research would be used to understand the long term mental health of veterans and the needs of disabled veterans.
A full breakdown of how each agency would be impacted by President Biden’s budget proposal can be found here.