In the troubling time when Biden was navigating hot waters due to the rising inflation and a popularity hit, he has presented a new federal budget proposal.
Ahead of the highly anticipated midterm elections, Joe Biden presented his $5.8 trillion budget proposal. Usually, the budget has a small impact on deciding the course of the elections, but this time it could be the key factor in deciding whether or not Democrats would be able to retain their majorities.
However, it still would not be the only factor, especially at a time when far-right tendencies are on the rise, and the latest assault on Donald Trump in the wake of the January 6 investigations could push him, and the Republican party, to chaos.
Biden looks to win democrats back
There is something for every political faction of the Democratic party in Biden’s budget.
Appeasing the moderate voters is the biggest challenge that the Biden administration confronts. This is due to the fact that these voters played a crucial role in installing Biden in the White House and the Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate.
A president who was elected with nearly 51 percent of the votes has seen his approval ratings dipping to as low as 40 percent in the latest polls.
The timing of the Russian Ukraine conflict is detrimental for Biden. Just like in the time of Afghanistan, the Ukraine war has also proven difficult for Biden when it comes to public perception.
Seven out of ten Americans believe that Biden mismanaged the crisis, and his latest blunder to announce his ambitions for a regime change in Russia has likely made him lose support from some American voters.
Biden tries to appease disgruntled voters with his budget proposal
Thus Democrats face a double-edged sword, as they can’t afford to lose their core liberal voters either just for the sake of appeasing moderates.
These liberal voters are already disgruntled after the failure of the Democrats’ social spending spree and voting rights acts, as these were the top demands of these circles.
As per the latest Economist polls, only 18 percent of Americans strongly approve of Biden’s presidency.
For progressive voters, the president is introducing new taxes on the wealthy in his upcoming election, which will lure those voters. Similarly, a new wave of social spending is likely to be introduced to safeguard the progressives’ end.
But at the same time, he has promised to fund police further, a policy measure that has been denounced by progressives vehemently.
This is the trade-off that the president is looking to make. Police funding is to lure moderate voters who are looking for alternate options otherwise.
By asking Congress for over $30 billion of funding to fight crime, the president has officially detached the party from the “defund the police” narrative.
However, this is also a popular measure and reduced campaigning option for the Republican party. $1 trillion in deficit reduction is yet another spending directed to win moderates.
Similarly, the president proposed more military spending in the new budget, and a massive $800 billion has been introduced in the wake of the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
The latest budget is somehow a revival of the massive social spending spree on which Biden campaigned but failed to convince Sen. Manchin and Krysten Sinema.
This time he is not explaining the particulars as doing it earlier led the bill to failure. By leaving the particulars on the congress, Biden would be happy celebrating whichever thing he gets.
Final Thoughts
Yet another time, Biden is up for pleasing the likes of Manchin, who has tricked him enough times. Earlier, Manchin vowed to back the social spending bill should progressives pass the infrastructure bill.
But he backed off when progressives funded the bill. Now the same Manchin claims that he would support Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, including the massive climate change funding, should Biden take measures to reduce the deficit.
Thus the president has announced big money for the same in his bid to get Manchin’s support in the equally divided Senate.
Eli is a Political Data Scientist with over thirty years of experience in Data Engineering, Analytics, and Digital Marketing. Eli uses his expertise to give the latest information and distinctive analysis on US Political News, US Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, and Racial Justice equipping readers with the inequivalent knowledge.