By Takuya Karube,
U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday proposed a record defense budget of $895.2 billion for fiscal 2025, saying more funding is needed to boost deterrence against China and in the Indo-Pacific region.
The figure, however, represents only about a 1 percent increase from the $886.3 billion proposal made a year ago. Biden's administration says the latest request is also vital to enable the U.S. military to counter Russia and deal with other persistent threats posed by countries such as North Korea and Iran.
The administration plans to spend a total of $7.27 trillion, an increase of 4.7 percent, in the entire federal budget for the year starting Oct. 1, with an emphasis on expanding programs for middle-class families and raising taxes on the rich and big companies.
Still, it is highly unlikely the proposal will be endorsed in its current form by Congress, with less than a year to go until the presidential election and given that the House of Representatives is controlled by Republicans.
The proposal is largely symbolic, serving as Biden's economic platform as he heads into an expected presidential election rematch against his predecessor Donald Trump.
Congress has yet to pass a budget for the current fiscal year as Biden has been locked in a standoff with Republicans, who strongly oppose tax and spending increases.
While the national security request for fiscal 2025 has reached an all-time high, its growth is minimal due to a budget deal struck last year between the Democratic president and Congress that capped spending increases to 1 percent, far below recent inflation.
"My administration has restored America's leadership on the world stage, rallying more than 50 nations to support Ukraine in the face of brutal Russian aggression, strengthening and expanding NATO, revitalizing our alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific -- including with Japan, South Korea and Australia -- and strengthening democracy across the globe," Biden said in the budget proposal.
"But we need to do more to prove that America can once again be relied on to stand up for freedom," he continued.
Adm. Christopher Grady, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the request is critical for priority areas such as reinforcing nuclear and missile capabilities, as well as for cyberspace activities.
"We must continue to adapt, advance and innovate at speed and at scale across all domains, prioritizing China as the pacing challenge and Russia as an acute threat," Grady said during a press briefing at the Pentagon. "Our strategy-driven budget does exactly that."
Biden's budget proposal followed the annual State of the Union address he delivered last week to a joint session of Congress, in which he drew a stark contrast with Trump's values and priorities on various fronts.
Regarding global affairs, Biden assailed Trump, who is all but certain to be the Republican nominee for the Nov. 5 presidential election, for his friendliness toward Russia.
The administration said more than a trillion dollars in deficit-reduction has been achieved since Biden took office in 2021.
It underscored that his fiscal 2025 budget proposal includes cutting about $3 trillion from the deficit over a decade by raising taxes on large companies, making sure billionaires pay a 25 percent minimum tax and cutting wasteful spending on special interests.
With an envisaged corporate tax rate of 28 percent, raised from 21 percent as set under Trump in 2017, the administration expects revenues for the new fiscal year would be $5.49 trillion with a $1.78 trillion deficit.
House Republican leaders said in a statement that "the price tag of President Biden's proposed budget is yet another glaring reminder of this administration's insatiable appetite for reckless spending and the Democrats' disregard for fiscal responsibility."
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