U.S. Senators Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Friday reacted to President Joe Biden releasing a $6 trillion budget request for fiscal year 2022, which features spending levels that have not been seen in America in generations.
The massive budget would even represent a higher percentage of the economy than the country saw in World War II.
Shelby, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, has proposed a balanced budget amendment 18 times in the Senate.
“President Biden’s FY22 budget request is a blueprint for the higher taxes, excessive spending, and disproportionate funding priorities the American people can expect from his Administration over the next four years,” Shelby said in a statement. “The proposal completely disregards our debt of more than $28 trillion, yet somehow still shortchanges our national security.
“Increasing non-defense spending by nearly 20 percent while flat-funding America’s military would send a message of weakness to our adversaries like China and Russia,” he continued. “Our highest priority should be funding our national defense to counter the threats they pose, not financing the far-left’s longstanding wish list.”
Shelby concluded by explaining that this battle is not lost.
“Thankfully, the President’s proposal is simply that – a proposal. In the forthcoming weeks, Congress will exercise its Constitutional power of the purse in crafting appropriations bills that, I hope, will appropriately prioritize our nation’s spending,” Alabama’s senior senator concluded.
Tuberville, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, also released a statement of his own.
“President Biden’s budget priorities are out of step with the challenges facing our country,” he stated. “After such an alarming ‘skinny budget’ proposal earlier this year, it’s no surprise that the full plan is dead on arrival in Congress.”
“President Biden’s request for the Department of Defense is disappointing, dangerous, and a disservice to our men and women in uniform,” Tuberville remarked. “At a time where the threats to U.S. security are rapidly increasing, we cannot underfund our military and ask them to ‘do more with less,’ as President Biden’s budget does.”
He concluded, “Meanwhile, the president is asking for a massive and irresponsible increase in domestic programs, apparently forgetting the unprecedented spending levels Congress already reached during the pandemic. We cannot continue to blow up the federal deficit and place our children and grandchildren in greater debt to countries like China. I’ll continue to advocate for a responsible federal budget that strengthens our national security and puts our future generations on fiscally sound footing.”
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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