House Appropriations chair praises domestic spending increases in Biden's $6T budget

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro is applauding President Biden's proposed $6 trillion 2022 federal budget for substantial increases in domestic spending, while Republicans are criticizing the plan.

The federal government budget for fiscal year 2020 was $4.79 trillion, not counting stimulus spending approved during the coronavirus pandemic.

The deficit hit a record $3.1 trillion in FY 2020. The national debt is more than $28 trillion.

"With his fiscal year 2022 budget, President Biden is setting the United States on the course for broad and inclusive prosperity," DeLauro said in a statement on Friday. "The overall increase of 16 percent in domestic spending — including a 41 percent increase for the Department of Education, a 23 percent increase for the Department of Health and Human Services, and a 22 percent increase for the Environmental Protection Agency — will make a tremendous difference in the lives of working families, the middle class, and the vulnerable.

"In recognition that every American has a stake in our prosperity, the budget builds a more equitable tax system, where big corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share and where the government cracks down on the biggest corporations paying no taxes," she added.

DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, said the pandemic has "exposed the deep fraying of our public health infrastructure" and Biden's budget would help repair it with record funding of $8.7 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"It also directly addresses the most pressing public health crises," she said, "with $10.7 billion for opioid research, prevention treatment, and recovery, $1.6 billion for the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant, $200 million for maternal health, and $200 million for gun violence research." 

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy called Biden's budget request "the most reckless and irresponsible budget proposal in my lifetime."

He slammed the Biden administration for striking the Hyde Amendment and allowing federal funding of abortion services.

"It breaks with decades of settled precedent by calling for direct taxpayer-funded abortion," McCarthy said. "We need a vision that will provide our troops with the resources they need to keep our country safe, not one that fails to keep up with global threats, rewards the failures of the WHO, and violates Americans’ rights of conscience.

DeLauro praised Biden's budget for striking the Hyde Amendment, saying, "I am also pleased that the budget strikes the Hyde Amendment, which is a major obstacle to low-income women receiving safe, affordable reproductive health care."

DeLauro said the budget takes steps to combat climate change.

"The whole-of-government effort emphasizes climate research, clean energy technologies that create jobs and economic growth, and environmental remediation efforts that require good-paying union jobs as we clean up communities that have been left behind for far too long," she said. "As we strengthen our nation at home, we must also restore our place in the world.

"The discretionary budget funds the mix of defense, diplomacy, and development that the Pentagon says is needed to counter our adversaries, mobilize global action on climate change and other pressing challenges, and support the world's most vulnerable people. The Appropriations Committee will turn this blueprint into funding bills that meet this historic moment." 

Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized Biden's budget request.

The budget "appears to have some bright spots" related to "global health security of the United States overseas," but those areas are "overshadowed by what the president gets wrong" in the proposal, Risch said. "Throwing good money at bad programs will not advance the national security, economic, or humanitarian interests of the American people."