Report

President Biden’s Budget Tackles the Climate Crisis and Other Long-Standing Environmental Challenges

The President’s 2023 budget provides $45 billion to combat the climate crisis while building a more resilient, advanced, and inclusive nation. This historic investment increases discretionary climate funding by nearly 60 percent compared to 2021 enacted levels. The investments outlined in this budget will help America reach our climate goals while leading on the global stage.

When Women Succeed, America Succeeds: Investing in Women’s Return to the Workforce

The last two years have been a strain for the entire country as we work to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession. However, because of their position in our economy and in their own households, women have borne the brunt of these two crises. Women not only suffered the most job loss, they also took on the lion’s share of caregiving responsibilities for their children and families as schools, daycares, and other care facilities closed. The House Budget Committee held a hearing on March 16, 2022, to explore this issue, examine ways to ensure an inclusive economic recovery, and ways to ensure women can thrive in a post-pandemic economy.

President Biden’s Budget Strengthens Public Health and Expands Access to Health Care for All Americans

President Biden’s 2023 budget invests in all Americans’ health and well-being. His budget makes key investments to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic and guard against potential future threats to public health, expand access to care, address health disparities, and strengthen behavioral health. The budget also includes a deficit-neutral reserve fund to account for pending legislation that advances critical budget proposals the Administration put forth last year to invest in American families, including proposals to lower costs for prescription drugs and health care premiums. Furthermore, the health care investments in the budget support the President’s Unity Agenda, unveiled at his State of the Union Address, to improve mental health, beat the opioid epidemic, and end cancer as we know it.

Biden Budget Reinvests in the Foundations of Our Nation’s Strength

Under the leadership of President Biden and Congressional Democrats, America is back on track. COVID cases are down, and vaccination rates are up. Students are back in classrooms and parents are returning to work. Our recovery is booming: unemployment has dropped to its lowest level since the pandemic began; initial unemployment claims are at their lowest level in more than half a century; we’ve added more than 7 million jobs back to our economy; GDP growth is at a 40-year high; and wages are up. This recovery was far from inevitable. Before the American Rescue Plan, our recovery was not projected to reach many of these milestones until at least 2024. We have made tremendous progress in a short period of time; but barriers remain, and new challenges have emerged at home and abroad.

Ensuring Women Can Thrive in a Post-Pandemic Economy

On March 16th, the House Budget Committee will hear testimony on how the public health and economic crises brought on by COVID-19 have exacerbated underlying and systemic challenges facing American women. Witnesses will discuss the ways in which the COVID-19 recession disproportionately affected women, the importance of an inclusive recovery to the well-being and future of our economy, and federal policy options to ensure women are not left behind in recovery efforts or forced to shoulder a greater burden because of their sex. Witnesses will include:

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