Biden to blast Republican agenda as 'massive giveaway' to big companies

[February 15, 2023]  By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden, armed with a new team of economic advisers, will take aim on Wednesday at Republican plans to cut U.S. spending as his administration gears up for a huge fight to preserve the outlays he credits with fueling a U.S. recovery.

At issue is Republicans' refusal to raise the statutory $31.4 trillion U.S. debt limit unless Biden agrees to spending cuts, while the White House has said such measures will only be discussed after the debt ceiling is lifted.

With his own approval ratings now at 36%, despite 53-year low unemployment and rising consumer sentiment, Biden will seek to flip the script and point the finger at a Republican agenda that he says will amount to "a massive giveaway to the super-rich, big corporations and Big Pharma," the White House said.

In a speech at a union hall in suburban Maryland, Biden will accuse Republicans, who now control the House of Representatives, of pushing him to agree to spending cuts, while their own plans would add more than $3 trillion to the debt.

By contrast, Biden says his administration's plans will cut U.S. debt by another $2 trillion on top of $1.7 trillion in reductions already made.

Since taking control of the House in January, Republicans have passed measures to reverse or pare back Biden-backed laws, including the Inflation Reduction Act that includes green tax credits and reforms aimed at lowering prescription drug prices.

Republicans argue that U.S. federal spending is too high and will fuel inflation while raising the U.S. debt level.

U.S. President Joe Biden addresses the National Association of Counties (NACo) Legislative Conference in Washington, U.S., February 14, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

The president on Tuesday chose new allies to help lead the fight, naming Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard to head the National Economic Council and nominating Jared Bernstein to head the Council of Economic Advisers.

He also gave new authority to deputy National Economic Council director Bharat Ramamurti, former adviser to Senator Elizabeth Warren and vocal critic of oil and gas companies' windfall profits, and named Labor Department chief economist Joelle Gamble as one of Brainard's deputies.

Biden's speech to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 26 in Lanham, Maryland, will build on his State of the Union address last week in which he assailed oil companies for making high profits and doubled down on pledges to rout "trickle down" economics from policymaking.

He will tout his call to quadruple a 1% tax on corporate stock buybacks and enact a minimum tax on billionaires, in part to lower the deficit, but neither measure has much chance of passing the Republican-control House.

Republican have discussed repealing the stock buyback tax entirely, which the White House says would add $74 billion to the federal debt.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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