(OMB) Young Testifies To Budget Ctte - Oligarchs And Defence In Focus

Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shalanda Young has testified before a polarised Senate Budget Committee on president Biden's FY23 budget.

• Chair of the Committee Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the hearing by highlighting the US wealth gap. Sanders says that the US has 'an oligarchy' similar to that of Russia. Sanders congratulates the president on his proposal for a minimum 20 percent wealth tax on billionaires.
• Ranking Republican Lindsay Graham (R-SC): Says Biden's budget takes three problems: 'the world is on fire', 'inflation is rampant', 'US more dependent on bad actors' and makes them worse.
• Graham: 'More spending, more taxes, more debt: we need to go in the other direction.'
• Graham believes that defence spending is not high enough in Biden's budget. 'By 2032 we will be spending 2.4% of GDP on defence.' Graham claims that will be the lowest defence spending in the history of the country.
• The key takeaways from the committee hearing: The GOP will focus on the lack of military spending, despite a significant increase from the previous budget. Progressive Democrats will focus on taxing the wealth of billionaires. This budget is unlikely to deliver much in congress but it will act as a democratic manifesto for the midterms campaign season.