The proposal calls for $ 3.2 billion in “discretionary resources for state and local grants” for communities to hire more police officers and an additional $ 30 billion in “compulsory resources to support law enforcement, crime prevention and intervention.” of Community violence “. “Taking a step back, what this budget shows is that we can grow the economy from the bottom up and from the middle and invest in the American people, and that we can do it in a smart, financially responsible way,” she said. Shalanda Young, Office Manager. Administration and Budget told reporters in a phone call Monday morning. “Here at home it includes critical investments to keep our communities safe, it funds crime prevention and community violence intervention, it puts more police in community policing, fights gun violence and promotes criminal justice reform,” he said. Officials say budget-reflective inflation estimates were made in November – ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which has put pressure on the economy and pushed up prices in general. “The invasion is likely to put upward pressure on energy and food prices, which in turn could boost inflation, which was already a pre-invasion issue due to pandemic supply chain constraints and demand for goods,” he said. Rouge. “If we were to update the financial forecast today, we would look at it somewhat differently.” Biden will speak on his budget proposal later Monday. In a statement, Biden said the budget “includes a historic deficit reduction, historic investments in our security at home and abroad, and an unprecedented commitment to building an economy where everyone has a chance to succeed.” He also blamed the deficit reduction on “a direct result of my government’s strategy of controlling the pandemic and developing a bottom-up and middle-of-the-road economy.” “At the same time, my budget will invest in securing our nation and building a better America,” Biden wrote. He also said he was “calling for one of the largest investments in our national security in history” and for “continued investment to respond vigorously to Putin’s aggression against Ukraine with US support for Ukraine’s economic, humanitarian and security needs.” ». Among other demands are $ 10 billion in new funding for the election administration, which they say is needed to “strengthen American democracy” and face unprecedented threats. The money for state and local officials, if approved by Congress, will be spent over a 10-year period. “Federal funding for the equipment, systems and personnel that make up the Nation’s critical electoral infrastructure has been episodic or crisis-driven,” the White House budget proposal said. However, the $ 10 billion request is aimed at “providing state and local election officials with a predictable flow of funding for critical capital investments and increased staffing and services.” A notable part of the proposal includes “making (postal) ballots free of postage”, which is a priority for left-wing voting groups. Mail voting has become increasingly popular, especially since the 2020 election plagued by the pandemic, but it is up to the states to decide whether voters should pay for their own stamps. Most of the states that offer it are run by Democrats. Biden also wants to increase the Justice Department’s $ 101 million budget for civil rights to a new $ 367 million total. These funds will support, inter alia, efforts to protect voting rights. Last year, the Department of Justice sued GOP-administered states, such as Texas and Georgia, over voting rules and the redistribution of maps that allegedly discriminated against minorities. The budget also includes funding for the President’s proposal, which has been renamed “Building a Better America,” which has stalled in Congress, but “does not include specific line items for investments related to this future legislation,” Young said. Asked if funding meant negotiations that had stalled resumed, Yang said what the White House was not taking “in the face of congressional negotiations.” “The neutral deficit fund is intended to leave room, revenue in particular, for congressional negotiators to do what President Biden called for. He called for legislation that cuts costs for Americans and reduces the deficit.” , he said. In order to make these investments and reduce the deficit, the budget requires a new “minimum tax for billionaires” – which includes more than billionaires and applies to anyone worth more than $ 100 million – that would provide $ 0. 01 percent of the wealthiest households pay at least “20 percent of their total income in federal income taxes.” It also raises the interest rate companies pay on profits and contains “additional measures to ensure that multinationals operating in the United States can not use tax havens to reduce the global minimum tax,” the White House said. The chairman of the Financial Advisory Board Cecilia Rouse told reporters that Biden policies will reduce the expected deficit in the current fiscal year 2022 to “$ 1.3 trillion less than the fiscal year ’21 and we believe that the policies in “This budget will further reduce the deficit by another trillion over the next decade.” But much of that deficit reduction comes from outdated US Rescue programs. CNN’s Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.
