On Monday, President Biden unveiled his budget for 2023, totaling $5.8 trillion.
The plan proposes billions allocated to confront Russian aggression, a new tax on the wealthiest Americans, $32 billion in new spending for law enforcement, and slashing the nation’s deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. Now, Virginia lawmakers are weighing in on what’s included in his plan.
As expected, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine expressed support for the budget, saying
“I would say he has put a meat and potato budget on the table… I think a commitment to deficit reduction makes a lot of sense, I think a commitment to crime reduction makes a lot of sense.”
Conversely, Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith has expressed opposition to the tax hike and want more military spending.
“I see a whole lot of new spending, spending is going up, up, up… I am sure there is something in there that I agree with but they are spending so much more on domestic spending, they have increased that a lot. They are not increasing our defense spending.”
The Senate Budget Committee is holding a budget hearing on Wednesday, so the proposed budget is still a work in progress.
“As the old adage goes, the president proposes and Congress disposes and there is a lot of things that we’ll have to hammer out,” said Griffith.