President Joe Biden on Monday unveiled a proposed federal budget for the 2023 fiscal year, with an announcement accompanied by high-minded rhetoric.
“Budgets are statements of values, and the budget I am releasing today sends a clear message that we value fiscal responsibility, safety and security at home and around the world, and the investments needed to continue our equitable growth and build a better America,” Biden said in a statement.
Yet despite the aspirational language, the proposal will largely be ignored by Congress. This is not a criticism of the partisanship that engulfs Washington, D.C., — although that is an important issue. Rather, it is an indictment of how Congress over the past 45 years has abdicated its duty to the American people.
Congress has not passed a comprehensive federal budget since 1997. And since 1977, the House of Representatives and the Senate have agreed on spending measures by the Oct. 1 deadline only three times — 1989, 1995 and 1997. In the 117th Congress, the current one, 92 percent of the members have never served under a regular budget and appropriations process.
In late 2020, Washington Post columnist George Will wrote: “On Jan. 3, the 117th Congress will convene. It is not clear why.”
The quip highlighted Congress’ willingness to ignore its duty. As Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution mandates: “Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States.” Various laws have further defined that duty, and the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act created the Congressional Budget Office and added standing committees to handle budget matters.
But rather than passing an annual budget, Congress has relied on continuing resolutions — spending measures that keep the government running for the time being. Since 1977, there have been 4.6 continuing resolutions per year.
As Mark Harkins of Georgetown University told Vox.com: “It’s not a systemic problem, it’s an operator problem. And those operators have to be willing to compromise.”
Instead, members of Congress routinely fail to pass a budget, bundle continuing resolutions into omnibus bills, threaten or enact a government shutdown, and finally agree to continuing resolutions that typically leave department budgets the same as they were before. It is no way to run a government, and it is no way to address new problems as they arise.
Biden’s proposed budget calls for $2.5 trillion in tax increases over 10 years on the highest-income individuals and corporations. Republicans in Congress immediately decried the request, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky claiming it represented “a bomb of tax hikes.”
Republicans should be reminded that during the 1950s — a time when many conservatives think America was great — the highest marginal tax rate (the rate above a certain level of earnings) was 92 percent. Now, the highest marginal rate is 37 percent.
Biden’s proposal focuses on various priorities such as the Internal Revenue Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. It will be parsed and debated and mostly rejected by members of Congress. But it is a reasonable starting point for a representative government to reflect the wishes of the public.
It also is a call for Congress to perform its duty and provide the people with a statement of our values.
