President Joe Biden on April 7 asked Congress for $1.52 trillion for fiscal year 2022 to significantly boost domestic spending, especially for federal health care and education programs. The request kicks off a months-long appropriations process on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have been separately drafting measures to implement the president’s proposed $2.25 trillion infrastructure plan.
Biden is aiming to end a decade-long Washington tradition of increasing military and domestic spending levels by similar amounts. Instead, he proposed a nearly16% boost to nondefense funds and a 1.7% increase for defense in his budget proposal.
Republicans, who have who have called for a 3-5% increase in defense spending, are likely to reject the Biden plan. While Democrats can move forward with their own top-line numbers, Republican support is necessary to garner 60 votes in the Senate to fund the government by the Sept. 30 deadline.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Commerce, Education, and Health and Human Services are big winners in the Biden plan, with proposed budgets increasing by at least 20% each. Biden said the money is needed to expand manufacturing programs, increase low-income education grants, launch an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, and create a new $1.4 billion environmental justice initiative.