President Biden ’s “Historic” 2024 Budget

Chris EdwardsThe Biden administration has proposed itsfederal budget for 2024. The administration has an expansive view of federal responsibilities and calls for new spending on health care, college aid, paid leave, child care, preschool, housing, and numerous other items.The new spending is discussed in thebudget summary, which starts with the president ’s message and runs through chapters for each department over 132 pages. I looked at the document ’s language to see what it reveals about the administration’s worldview and priorities.One prominent word in the Biden budget is “historic.” The administration uses it 74 times to pat itself on the back regarding its legislation, executive orders, international agreements, increases in funding, deficit reduction, progress in schools, the economy, and many other things. Even the “seventh replenishment” of a certain “Global Fund” is called historic spending, even though the fund has apparently been replenished six times already.The budget proposes to increase spending by 8 percent in 2024 and $2 trillion over the coming decade above the baseline. Many of the budget ’s 132 pages describe new spending and subsidy proposals, yet the document uses the word “spending” just five times and “subsidy” four times.Luckily for the administration, there are alternate words that don ’t sound as profligate. Here are the budget’s synonyms for spending and subsidies with word counts in brackets: “inv...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs