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President Joe Biden is set to present his first full budget for the fiscal year 2022 today, which would give more insights into his proposed spending in major areas including education, healthcare, foreign aid and immigration policy as well as other social programs.
Biden has already proposed a set of spending plans including the infrastructure bill, the American Families Plan and the American Jobs Plan. In April, the President gave an outline for the budget, which proposed to hike in government spending in the education sector by 40 percent from the previous budget.
READ MORE: What’s in President Biden’s 2022 Budget Proposal
The American Family Plan includes US$1.8 trillion in investments and tax credits to support better access to education and child care for middle class families. Biden proposed to fund the plan by raising the top tax rate on the wealthiest Americans to 39.6 percent from 37 percent.
In March, Biden signed a US$1.9 trillion stimulus package. The President has also ordered federal contractors to pay a minimum hourly wage of US$15 to workers on federal contracts, up from the current minimum wage of US$10.95 per hour. The new wage is effective March 30, 2022.
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The budget presentation comes at a time when Republicans are opposing Biden’s proposed spending on infrastructure. Amid opposition from the Republicans, Biden trimmed his initial infrastructure spending plans to US$1.7 trillion from the US$2.25 trillion. Republicans have now proposed US$928 billion in a new counteroffer to Biden’s plan.
The U.S. GDP growth in the first three months rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.4 percent. In April, personal consumption expenditure increased by 0.5 percent, while personal income declined 13.1 per cent compared to March. Personal consumption expenditure, excluding food and energy, surged 3.1 percent year over year last month.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 Index increased 0.12% to 4,200.88 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.41% to 34,464.64. Dow Jones futures contracts gained more than 150 points on Friday morning. Stocks including AMC Entertainment, Ulta Beauty, Salesforce.com, Hibbett Sports rose in the pre-market trading on Friday.
