Third Way Statement on the President’s Budget Proposal

WASHINGTON — Third Way Executive Vice President for Policy Jim Kessler issued the following statement on the President’s FY 2023 Budget:

“Fiscal responsibility, a commitment to safety and security, and aggressively tackling our biggest challenges like climate change. Joe Biden ran on these things in 2020, and Americans responded with a seven million-vote victory.

“If 2021 was about managing the immediate crises President Biden inherited and securing big wins on the Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, this year will be about the Administration responding to what the public needs from Washington. They desperately need relief from rising costs—especially on energy—and this budget delivers help for working families and provisions that cut inflation. They want new investments to ensure they can compete in this economy, and this budget provides new support for things like public health, housing, and workforce training. They want the government to live within its means, and this budget pays for what’s new and cuts the deficit by more than a trillion dollars.

“The President made clear in his State of the Union that he continues to reject the harmful ideas of the far left. Rather than defund the police, his budget dramatically increases funding for cops on the beat. Rather than making college free or canceling student loans for people who don’t need it, his budget would double Pell grants and invest in improving completion rates for students who need the most help getting to and through college. And rather than engaging in fantasies about a Green New Deal, his budget offers big, smart, concrete steps we can take to address the climate crisis.

“This Biden budget is mainstream, ambitious, and smart. Congressional Democrats should get behind it, reach a deal on reconciliation like the budget calls for, and then work to get the rest of it done.”