Joe Biden plans $ 6 trillion budget

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Joe Biden

Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP

US President Joe Biden proposes a record budget for his first full year in government to fund investments in infrastructure and the expansion of social benefits.

The New York Times and Washington Post newspapers unanimously reported that the budget would be around six trillion US dollars.

The budget deficit is expected to be $ 1.8 trillion in the coming year.

The draft for the budget year from October is to be officially presented on Friday.

The budget has to be decided by Congress, so Biden's draft probably only marks the start of a negotiation marathon.

According to the newspapers, Biden does not propose any major new initiatives in the draft, but mainly provides details of the billion dollar packages he has already presented for infrastructure investments and an expansion of social benefits for families and education.

On the revenue side, the draft budget is reportedly assuming that Congress will approve the tax increases targeted by Biden for top earners.

In view of the rejection of the Republicans, who can block many laws in the Senate, that is currently rather unlikely.

The draft also assumes economic growth of five percent for this year.

Many analysts and the central bank are expecting a good six percent growth.

The government then expects growth of 4.3 percent for 2022.

According to the New York Times, the annual expenditure envisaged by the budget would be the highest since the Second World War, with the exception of the two pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, in which, after budget planning, there were still trillion-dollar stimulus packages.

dab / dpa