Biden Budget Sideline Defense Enrages Liberals
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Alaina
- . April 10, 2021
- . Update: April 10, 2021 7:55 pm
While US President Joe Biden might be doing his best to get a bruising economy back on its tracks, the right and left parties are not happy with the way the budget has panned out.
Under the new budget, his has asked the Congress to focus on climate change, medical treatment and education. However, his first budget wish-list has not been well received over military spending. Strangely, the budget has no provisions for spending on border walls, something that the parties should be feeling happy about. But they are least so.
The $1.5 trillion budget has reflected an 8 percent increase in base funding from this year. It is in significant contrast to what Trump stood for. The budget plans to spread billions of dollars more across areas ranging from public transit, poor schools, toxic site clean-ups, foreign aid and background checks on gun sales.
Focusing on ground realities, Biden’s governance has looked at developing the base of the country’s economy that had been severely compromised under Trump, who was busy feeding concerned lobbying groups and corporate.
The Overseas Contingency Operations account was also reduced. While government bureaucrats have said that the account only served as a slush fund for extra military spending, it is a waste of money at the end of the day. The liberals aren’t happy as their focus is mainly on facing threats from the outside. China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are the enemies in sight.
Biden’s budget focuses 40.8percent on Education, and some 1.6 percent on defense and 0.2 percent on Homeland Security. Five Republican senators twisted the facts to say that Biden was falling short of responding to the threat posed by China. It has been historic that this time, the US has not allocated ‘literally’ half its discretionary budget to the military and defense, mostly outspending than other countries.
The only one who has held a more mature stance is Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the chairman of the Budget Committee and a top liberal. He has frequently collaborated with Biden and has said that ‘it is time for us to take a serious look’ at the ‘Pentagon’s waste and fraud.’
All in all, the precursor document to the whole budget has shown commitment to nation building efforts more than spending on war and defense.
