Biden’s Budget Arithmetic Doesn’t Add Up
The president has offered some good ideas on taxes and spending. There's just one problem.
Heroic assumptions.
Photographer: Anna Rose Layden/Getty
President Joe Biden’s new budget isn’t going anywhere. Policy for the current fiscal year is in disarray, to say nothing of the one that starts next October — and things will probably get worse as elections approach. Still, the new blueprint lets voters see whether Biden has the ambition, at least, to put the budget on a more prudent course.
The answer is not really. Biden’s plan has some good ideas on new spending and how to pay for it. The president also deserves credit for acknowledging that ever-rising public debt isn’t sustainable and for saying he’ll do something about it. Trouble is, his numbers don’t add up.