Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) confronted a top Biden administration official on Wednesday over President Joe Biden's repeated claims that Republicans want to cut Social Security.
In recent months, the president has argued without evidence that Republicans want to slash the social safety net.
Republicans have denied the charges vehemently. The only evidence that Biden and Democrats cite is Sen. Rick Scott's proposal in which all federal spending would sunset after five years unless Congress renews it.
At a Senate Budget Committee hearing, Romney confronted Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, over Biden's narrative about Republicans and Social Security.
What followed was an intense back-and-forth in which Romney cornered Young into making a critical admission.
At first, Romney fought Young over whether current members of Congress have proposed cutting Social Security. She claimed that "current members have well-known policies out there to cut Social Security and Medicare." She did not, however, name any specific lawmakers.
"That is simply wrong, and it's not honest to say that to members of Congress. That is simply wrong," Romney chided.
It's dishonest to claim that Republicans want to cut Social Security. www.youtube.com
The Utah Republican followed up by examining Biden's budget proposal for fiscal year 2024.
"Do you recognize that, in the next 10 years or so, that the trust fund on Social Security is going to run out, and under the law, benefits would be cut dramatically — like 25%. You're aware of that?" Romney asked.
"I'm aware," Young acknowledged.
"That's a problem, right?" Romney followed up, to which Young responded affirmatively.
"Well, why is it, then, that in the president’s budget, there’s no effort to address that whatsoever?" Romney then asked.
The point of Romney's question is clear. Biden falsely claims Republicans want to cut Social Security. But his own budget does not address insolvency issues with Social Security and Medicare, effectively slashing them, because if funding issues are not addressed, the money dries up. But Young did not answer, instead returning to Romney's previous question.
"While we clearly disagree on this, there are some who have policies on websites — I'm happy to print them and send them to the committee — whether they have changed their position is another thing — who want to cut –" Young began before Romney cut her off.
"I'm sorry, that was not the question," Romney interjected. "I'm sorry, you've got to answer the questions, as opposed to change the topic."
Young, however, refused to answer the question.
"This president believes the biggest threat to Social Security are those who want to cut it," she said. "His budget says no."
"There's nobody in this committee that wants to cut it," Romney corrected. "I know of no Republican or Democrat in the House or the Senate who is proposing cutting Social Security benefits, and it's dishonest to keep saying it. It's offensive and dishonest and not realistic."
The question then becomes, according to Romney, is why Biden is not taking steps to "protect" Social Security from its insolvency issues.
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President Joe Biden released his budget request for fiscal 2024 on Thursday, prompting Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to conclude that socialists, not the accident-prone octogenarian, are running the White House.
Cruz told Fox News' Sean Hannity, "The sad truth is the socialists are in charge of the White House. Joe Biden certainly isn't."
The people Biden has surrounded himself with "have a very simple approach to everything: They want to spend money they don’t have, [and] they want to raise taxes on you," added the senator.
"They've unleashed record inflation," continued Cruz. "This budget that Biden put out would create a $50 trillion national debt, and their view is they can just keep printing money and unleashing inflation and keep borrowing money from China. It’s wildly irresponsible."
As of March 10, the total federal debt was $31.459 trillion, which breaks down to over $94,000 per citizen.
Despite Biden's claims that his proposal was fiscally responsible, Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget advocacy group, said, "When it comes to fixing the debt, this is by no means an award-winning budget."
The $6.8 trillion proposal — which the White House claimed will ultimately reduce the deficit by $3 trillion over a 10-year period — was touted by Shalanda Young, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, as the "start of a healthy dialogue." However, it appears Biden is speaking a different language than many Americans.
Whereas fentanyl, the drug killing tens of thousands of Americans every year, was mentioned only twice in the 182-page budget, equity was invoked 63 times and queer was mentioned seven times, reported Fox News Digital.
The fight to curb the flow of fentanyl did not appear to benefit from an equitable distribution of the administration's care.
While Biden would pour more money into programs for foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally as well as other migrants, he proposed spending only $40 million to combat fentanyl trafficking.
Equity, which is to say equal outcomes, similarly did not hold when it came to balancing border security with benefits for foreign nationals. Biden's budget would allot $7.3 billion for refugees but fund only an additional 350 border patrol agents to tackle the unprecedented stream of criminal noncitizens crossing U.S. borders, reported the Daily Mail.
"You know what is not in this budget?" Cruz asked Hannity. "Funds to secure our southern border. They want to fund 87,000 IRS agents, but they don’t have funds for significant numbers of new border patrol agents. They don’t have funds for significant numbers of DEA agents to stop the fentanyl crisis that led to over 100,000 overdoses that happened last year on Biden’s watch."
"This is a tax and spend budget," continued the senator. "They’ve got $5.5 trillion in new taxes in this budget. That includes taxes directly on energy. So, remember all of the Democrats who said they wanted the gas prices low? They were lying."
The administration's "extreme and really dangerous" priorities revealed in the bill "tell you who they are," said Cruz, who noted that where the Democrat president is concerned, concerns over inflation, opioid deaths, and border security take a backseat to so-called environmental justice, transsexuals, and climate alarmism.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) appeared to agree with Cruz, stating that Biden's "budget makes his priorities clear. His administration is at war with the American people’s freedom and prosperity. ... We need to shrink Washington and grow America. His budget would do the opposite."
Cruz underscored that this "political document" had "zero-point-zero percent chance of being enacted into law.
Upon unveiling his plan on Thursday, Biden said, "I want to make it clear I'm ready to meet with the speaker anytime, tomorrow, if he has his budget. Lay it down, tell me what you want to do. I'll show you what I want to do, see what we can agree on."
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, "Biden's budget is a reckless proposal doubling down on the same Far Left spending policies that have led to record inflation and our current debt crisis."
House Republicans have in mind $150 billion in cuts to non-defense discretionary programs, such as foreign aid, and $25 billion from the Department of Education, reported Reuters. These cuts would reportedly save $1.5 trillion over the next decade.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus proposed Friday that Congress cap overall discretionary spending at fiscal 2022 levels for 10 years, allowing for 1 percent growth per year, reported the Hill.
Additionally, they called to end Biden's allegedly unconstitutional student loan forgiveness; rescind unspent COVID-19 and Inflation Reduction Act funds; loosen domestic energy production regulations; and trim additional statist spoils.
In the budget, the White House notes it also seeks: to restore the full Child Tax Credit; a billionaire minimum tax; increases to the corporate tax rate; and the provision of national paid leave. Some efforts appear to have also been made to satisfy bipartisan desires to better compete with China and flood Ukraine with additional support.
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During an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday, President Joe Biden defended his administration's economic record, saying he doesn’t think there's a recession coming, but if there is, it would be "very slight," before moving on to boast about all his "legislative victories," such as the memorable "American Rescue Plan," the "Inflation Act" (we assume Biden meant the Inflation Reduction Act, but "Inflation Act" is probably more accurate), and the most recent $368 billion in additional spending to "deal with the energy problem and the whole notion of global warming."
Asked if the American people should prepare for a recession, Biden answered, "No, look, they've been saying this now, how, every six months they say this. Every six months, they look down at the next six months and say what's gonna happen. It hadn't happened yet.
"It hadn't — but — there — that had — there is no, there's no guarantee that there's gonna be — I don't think there will be a recession. If it is, it will be a slight recession. That is, we'll move down slightly," he added.
Biden then pivoted to his administration's wonderful accomplishments. "Think about what's happened. We've done more, we're in a better position than any other major country in the world, economically and politically. We still have real problems, but look, look, look, look, look what we got done," he said before mentioning the "American Rescue Plan," his first stimulus package, and "the legislation to deal with infla — the Inflation Act."
Next, Biden launched into a rambling narrative about the economic "impact on families" who are "concerned about energy prices" and how his dad used to say middle-class families should have "breathing room" after all the bills are paid because they are "in fact, struggling" and so, of course, he threw another $368 billion at "the whole notion of global warming" to deal with the energy problem.
In case that didn't quite make sense, Biden clarified by adding, "It's gonna bring a billion, a trillion, 750 million dollars, billion dollars off the sidelines in investment. Look what's happened. Look at the investment going on in America right now."
At that, Tapper somehow managed to keep a straight face and simply answered, "Yeah. So you think Democrats have something to run on."
"Oh, I think we do, I know we do," Biden responded.
\u201cBiden brags about passing "a billion a trillion 750 million dollars billion dollars off the sidelines of investment" to fight climate change.\u201d— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1665538677
Unfortunately for Biden and Tapper, a few folks on Twitter still had questions:
\u201c@townhallcom Millions, billions, trillions on the \u201cNOTION\u201d of climate change?\u201d— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1665538677
\u201c@townhallcom Why do @JoeBiden handlers let him do interviews?\u201d— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1665538677
\u201c@townhallcom How exactly do you write that number?\u201d— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1665538677
\u201c@townhallcom So a billion trillion, million dollar puts on gloves to fight an imaginary enemy perpetuated by global elites to money launder the billion trillion million? Got it!\u201d— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1665538677
\u201c@SVdragonfly49 @townhallcom That\u2019s where KJP gets her logic from. What was her comment? 10 thousand million jobs?\u201d— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1665538677
\u201c@townhallcom Straight from the Kamala Harris word salad speaking program. Or did she learn from him???\u201d— Townhall.com (@Townhall.com) 1665538677
The "Defund the Police" movement will soon be dealt another major blow, this time by the Biden administration.
On Monday, President Joe Biden will urge Congress to approve more than $32 billion in new spending specifically aimed at fighting crime through law enforcement, Axios reported.
The proposal, included as a part of Biden's 2023 budget plans, puts a price tag on promises he made earlier this month during his first State of the Union address, the outlet noted.
During the address, Biden riled Black Lives Matter and other progressive anti-police activists when he emphatically renounced the movement to strip local police departments of funding and reimagine policing nationwide.
"We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police; it's to fund the police!" he exclaimed. "Fund them. Fund them. Fund them with resources and training," he continued, as Republicans and many Democrats applauded.
The budget proposal will reportedly allocate $20.6 billion over the next fiscal year to the Justice Department for discretionary spending on federal law enforcement, crime prevention, and intervention and will also mandate $30 billion in new spending over the next decade for a variety of programs to expand law enforcement and crime prevention, though details on those programs have yet to be released.
The discretionary spending money is reportedly aimed at increasing resources for federal prosecutors and state and local law enforcement agencies, allowing the latter to hire more officers to police violence in their communities.
It specifically doubles the funding for the COPS Hiring Program and would pay for nearly 300 new deputy marshals and related personnel as well as an additional 140 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) agents and investigators.
Axios reported that the proposal is intended to show Americans that Biden is serious about combatting crime in the U.S. ahead of the midterm elections.
But it may be too little, too late from a political standpoint. The country has been grappling with a continued scourge of violent crime since 2020, and the problem has only gotten worse in many major metropolitan areas — such as Philadelphia and Chicago — since Biden took office.
Americans by and large hold the president and his Democratic counterparts in Congress accountable for the rise in violent crime.
At the least, however, many onlookers may be pleased to see the federal government effectively renounce the "Defund the Police" movement in practice and not just word, even as many progressive communities across the country continue to push anti-police policies.
The message from the Biden administration is clear. "Defund the police" efforts have failed.
A review of the budget’s main summary tables illustrates a tax, spend, and borrow vision designed to expand government further.
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