House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blasted President Biden’s proposed budget as “too extreme and too expensive” Thursday night, saying it puts the US on a path to economic ruin.
“This is what everyone has ever warned us about, that your debt becomes so large, it’s more than 100 percent of your GDP,” McCarthy told “Hannity”. “There’s no coming back from that. This sounds like Venezuela or Cuba. Even [former President Barack] Obama’s economists tell you this is wrong and when he’s doing it is wrong.”
The $6 trillion proposal, which the White House is set to roll out Friday, would add $1.8 trillion to the federal deficit despite tax increases on corporations and high earners. The plan incorporates Biden’s eight-year, $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and its $1.8 trillion counterpart, the American Families Plan. It also details $1.5 trillion in annual operating appropriations for the Pentagon and other domestic agencies.
President Joe Biden’s latest budget proposal would add $1.8 trillion to the federal deficit. AFP via Getty ImagesMeanwhile, the national debt stands at $28.3 trillion after the federal government doled out more than $5 trillion in coronavirus relief during the pandemic. If Biden’s plan passes, the amount of debt held by the public would exceed both the size of the economy and break the record for levels of debt relative to gross domestic product that has stood since World War II.
“In a short five months, he’s put us in a place we haven’t seen since Jimmy Carter,” McCarthy told host Sean Hannity of Biden. “If he simply did nothing, he would make America stronger.
“But by these actions … everyone will get their taxes increased, inflation will come, so whatever money you have will be devalued,” he warned. “This is what happened to Venezuela … we cannot allow this to go forward.”
It’s unclear how much of Biden’s proposal could be passed by Congress. It calls for increasing the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent, a leap Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has publicly balked at.
In an interview with Sean Hannity, Kevin McCarthy believes the United States would be “stronger” if President Biden “simply did nothing.” UPIMeanwhile, the White House is seeking an agreement with Senate Republicans over infrastructure spending. Earlier Thursday, Republicans countered the president’s $1.7 trillion proposal with a $928 billion counteroffer of their own.
With Post wires
