The House Republicans’ proposed budget would force women and families to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and corporations. President Biden’s budget would do essentially the opposite.
Women and families have been consistently undervalued since our country’s inception. Too often, investments in housing, affordable and quality healthcare, child and elder care, paid family and medical leave—all of which allow women and families to thrive—are the first to get cut when lawmakers talk of “cutting wasteful government spending” or “balancing the budget.”
President Joe Biden’s most recent budget proposal bucks that historical trend in a big way.
Here at the National Women’s Law Center, we believe that robust spending on family-focused programs should be prioritized and celebrated—not left to die on the cutting room floor. In fact, by spending more on families’ well-being, children are healthier and our economy and communities are stronger and more equitable.
As a result of years of advocacy, more lawmakers are beginning to realize the importance of protecting and boosting investments in these programs, as seen in President Biden’s 2024 proposed federal budget.
Not surprisingly, House Republicans released their own “competing” budget proposal for 2025 that’s in stark contrast to President Biden’s. Digging into the details, it becomes obvious which budget puts children and families first, and which budget is beholden to wealthy special interests.
The White House Budget
President Biden’s proposed 2025 budget makes the wealthiest and mega-corporations pay their fair share in taxes and reinvests those additional tax dollars in families.
It would make bold public investments in affordable, high-quality childcare, create a national paid family and medical leave program, and strengthen aging and disability care. These investments could support more than $700 billion in economic activity. His budget also proposes increasing health care affordability and coverage through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid.
Additionally, President Biden’s budget would fully fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which is essential to getting nutritious food to women and children in need. It would also help ensure that this vital program can reach every eligible woman and child.
Importantly, the president’s proposed budget strengthens the earned income tax credit and restores the expanded child tax credit (CTC) passed into law temporally during the pandemic.
- Restoring and expanding the CTC would lift 2.9 million children—disproportionately Black and Brown children—out of poverty.
- Strengthening the earned income tax credit would expand eligibility to 2 million older workers and 5 million young adults.
House Republican Proposed Budget
In contrast to President Biden’s budget, House Republicans issued a budget that would make nearly $6 trillion in cuts to programs that help families the most. At the same time, it prioritizes giving even more tax cuts to the top 1 percent of Americans and large corporations—which we know won’t “trickle down” to the rest of us.
Part of House Republicans’ budget proposal includes $1 trillion in cuts to programs that provide nutrition assistance to lower-income families, including to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. These cuts in funding could make it harder to ensure that millions of children, older adults, and other people have enough food to eat. And needless to say, when people are food insecure, it’s harder for them to succeed at work or at school, or to maintain good health.
The House Republicans’ budget not only provides more tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals and corporations, but it also cuts funding that helps the IRS crack down on wealthy tax cheats. Together, this budget’s tax-related proposals would lead to a devastating loss in federal tax revenue—and promote the false narrative that we “can’t afford” to invest in priorities that families need and deserve.
House Republicans plan to make up for this dramatic loss in federal tax revenue by creating a problematic and undemocratic “fiscal commission” that would fast track cuts to Social Security and Medicare. This back-door way to cut these critical benefits would be especially harmful for women and people of color.
In short, the House Republicans’ budget would force hardworking women and families to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and giant corporations. President Biden’s budget would do essentially the opposite, ensuring that the richest pay their fair share allowing the U.S. to invest in programs that will help women, families, and the country thrive.
Here at the National Women’s Law Center, we believe in the radical notion that government can make life better for women and families—and when women and families do better, all of us do better. That’s why we’re fighting to make President Biden’s budget a reality—because it would make the investments in health care, childcare, aging and disability care, paid family and medical leave—and more—that we all need and deserve.
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