U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), of Brookhaven, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today issued the following statement regarding the FY2022 budget plan presented to Congress by President Biden Friday.

“In the first few months of this administration, President Biden and his Democratic colleagues demonstrated a clear willingness to take advantage of the COVID crisis to spend big and spend often.  The new Biden budget fits that pattern — more spending, more taxes, more deficits and more debt.  Worse yet, it prioritizes a liberal agenda at the expense of defense and homeland security — both areas where his budget constrains funding.”

The Biden budget blueprint will be the starting point from which Congress will develop the FY2022 Budget Resolution and subsequent appropriations bills to fund federal programs and activities.

Hyde-Smith pointed to items in the president’s $6 trillion budget blueprint that are “immediately unacceptable”:

· A 16% increase over current funding for domestic programs.

· Just a 1.7% increase for the U.S. military, which doesn’t even keep up with inflation.

· Level funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

· Increased funding to support gun violence research and policy recommendations that threaten Second Amendment rights.

· Rolling back the Hyde Amendment, the long-standing prohibition against using tax dollars to fund abortions.

· Projected annual deficits exceeding $1 trillion for at least 10 years, even with Biden tax hikes.