Democrats' Plan to Steamroll $3.5 Trillion Budget

The largest budget in U.S. history, $3.5 trillion for fiscal year 2022, is hurtling toward approval in Congress after Democrats paved the way for a negotiated process that assures its passage.  Specific details are scant at this juncture, a tactic to keep the legislation under wraps until both chambers vote.

Minutes before 4 a.m. on August 11, the Senate approved a blueprint of the $3.5 trillion budget in a 50-49 vote along party lines.  Seventeen days later the House passed an identical budget resolution by a 220-212 margin with the support of only Democrats. The broad outlines will be fleshed out in joint committees.  

To iron out detail, the Senate and House are using a process known as reconciliation, which makes it easier to pass legislation in the Senate.  Employing this legislative tool avoids the need for 60 votes in the Senate.  The spending and tax bill will require a simple majority in the upper chamber.

This fast-track procedure prevents Republicans from using a filibuster, which would require a 60-vote majority to end debate and force a vote.  With a virtual deadlock in the Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the deciding vote, ensuring passage.  Republicans also have used reconciliation.

Pundits speculate the bill's passage hinges on the competing interests of House Democrat progressives and a handful of moderates.  But Speaker Nancy Pelosi rules her troops with an iron fist and few will defy her once the legislation reaches a floor vote. Ignore the media noise about party disunity. 

Likewise in the Senate, Joe Manchin of West Virginia rails against the price tag, threatening to vote against the mega-spending measure.  However, we have seen this grandstanding bluster before.  In the end, Democrat Senate leader Chuck Schumer will corral Manchin to drag the bill across the finish line.

This is a fait accompli no matter what you hear from the media and talking heads. The only issue left to decide is how to divvy up trillions of dollars amongst a plethora of programs.

Here are the skeletal contours of key Senate and House approved budget resolutions:

• $726 billion to include universal Pre-K for 3-and-4-year olds; child care for working families; tuition free community college; racial equity health investments; and funds for Community Health Centers and other educational investments.
• $37 billion for electrifying the federal vehicle fleet, including post office vehicles; border management investments; and, improving the government's cybersecurity infrastructure.
• $107 billion for lawful permanent status for qualified immigrants; investments in effective border measures; and, community violence intervention initiatives.
• $135 billion on rural cop-op clean energy; agricultural climate research; funding for a Civilian Climate Corps; child nutrition; and, forestry programs to help reduce carbon emissions and prevent wildfires.
• $332 billion for improving housing affordability by providing down payment assistance, rental assistance and other home ownership initiatives; and, funding for zoning, land use and transit improvements to create healthy and sustainable housing.
• $198 billion for clean electricity payment program; consumer rebates to weatherize and electrify their homes; climate research; financing for domestic manufacturing of clean energy; and, auto supply chain technologies.
• $67 billion for a Clean Energy Technology Accelerator that would fund low-income solar and other climate-friendly technologies; environmental investments in clean water affordability and access, healthy ports and climate equity; and, investments in clean energy vehicles. 
• Among the proposals not listed in these categories are expansion of the Affordable Care Act and an increase in Medicare benefits to include dental and vision coverage. 

For the record, this is only a representative list of some of the major spending programs.  Smaller funding initiatives have been excluded. Language used to describe the spending was taken directly from the Democratic Senators memorandum on the FY2022 Budget Resolution Agreement Framework.  

Dollar signs are garnering the headlines, however, the spending will strengthen the government's role in education, healthcare, energy and the environment.  The federal government will control large swaths of the American economy, while permanently establishing new, expensive entitlements   

On the heels of this spending package, Democrats are teeing up a vote on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that will attract some GOP votes. The 2,702-page bill will pass with a few tweaks to accommodate projects in key Democratic House and Senate districts to bolster their reelection chances.  

The infrastructure package includes $110 billion for roads and bridges; $66 billion for railroads with upgrades to passenger rail systems; $65 billion for clean energy additions to the power grid; $65 billion for broadband expansion in rural and low-income areas; and, $55 billion for water infrastructure.

For the sake of brevity, this description highlights the major spending programs.  There are at least a dozen other mandates for cybersecurity, the environment, electric vehicles, school buses, safety, water ports, airports, and upgrades to public transit systems nationwide.

If you are following this spending trail with a calculator in hand, the cost for the combination of infrastructure and budget proposals amounts to about $5 trillion.  This bloated package will create yawning deficits and impose an estimated $1.35 trillion in tax increases to fund the spending spree.

Likely taxes will be hiked for households with $400,000 income and up; corporate taxes will increase; fossil fuel tax preferences will be erased; clean energy taxes will increase; and, other taxes will be added.  Dwindling numbers of Americans (39%) who pay federal income taxes will fund this excess.

Even Republicans agree there are needed projects in the spending proposals.  Not every expenditure should be viewed as unnecessary.  But each should be justified on its own merits with a cost-benefit analysis.  The process does not accommodate this approach. Instead it promotes wasteful spending.

Under the Democrats' self-imposed deadline, the gargantuan bill will be rushed to a vote without the opportunity for reps and senators to read the blizzard of pages containing line item expenditures.  Paraphrasing Speaker Pelosi's past words: "to find out what's in the bill, we have to pass it first."  

Reconciliation, although within Senate and House rules, allows a handful of committees to write the final bill's language with minimal input from non-committee members.  The procedure progresses behind closed doors, concealing the final draft until hours before a dash to a vote. It is a broken process. 

However, neither Republicans nor Democrats will abandon or revise the procedure because they view the benefits as political leverage for the party in power. 

Americans need to weigh in--pro or con--with their House representatives and Senators if they want their voices heard on these bills.  The cynics will do nothing because they believe their opinions matter not one wit. However, now's not the time to squat on the sidelines. The future of the country is a stake.