Washington, D.C. – Congressman Tom Cole (OK-04) released the following statement after President Joe Biden sent a $6 trillion budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2022. Cole is the Vice Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee.
“Looking at the price tag alone, President Biden’s budget request is utterly outrageous and unrealistic,” said Cole. “While Congress is ultimately responsible for providing the annual funding for the federal government, the Biden Administration has demonstrated yet again that its solution for everything is to tax, spend and then spend some more. Such misguided and unnecessary expansion of government is not sustainable for America’s future. Moreover, we simply cannot afford it.
“Our country’s enormous and growing debt already exceeds an astounding $28 trillion. The last thing America needs is President Biden’s proposed tax-and-spend monstrosity. To be clear, navigating the coronavirus pandemic response and recovery greatly strained communities across the nation, which led to five bipartisan and massive packages to support emergency efforts. But the situation has changed dramatically since then. Communities are reopening. People are getting vaccinated. Life is starting to return to a relative normal. Rather than proposing trillions in spending on non-pandemic related programs and initiatives, the president should be focused on fostering the nation’s economic recovery.
“Despite promises made on the campaign trail not to raise taxes on those with low and middle income, the president’s budget would let existing tax cuts expire, which would immediately increase the tax burden on hardworking Americans. As individuals, families and small businesses continue to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, such levels of unprecedented spending and taxation would only lead to inflation, slowed economic growth and the highest national debt level in American history.
“In his earlier budget outline, President Biden prioritized programs to appease the far-left faction of his party, such as vastly expanding Medicare, while also proposing effective cuts for our national defense. Now more than ever, we should be bolstering our common defense as our adversaries such as China and Russia are growing their militaries by the day.
“Fortunately, for the American people, Democrats do not have the majorities capable of passing this level of expansive programs on their own. Moreover, Congress holds the purse strings. In the days and weeks ahead, it is my hope that Congress can negotiate spending that is actually reasonable and won’t lead to financial disaster.”
