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up next, the white house budget director testifies on president biden's 2025 budget request from the house budget committee. she highlights what the administration sees as fiscal and legislative successes and priorities for the latest proposal which total $7.3 trillion. >> this hearing will come to order. welcome to the committee on budgets hearing regarding the president's fiscal year 2025 budget request. welcome to the director young, office of management and budget. thank you for being here. i have enjoyed working with you. you are one of the most likable people on capitol hill and in my experience, in politics.

as i have said before i like you a lot that i do not like the budget. i'm going to outline that with probably some sharp criticism., but i appreciate your service to our country as a former staff person on capitol hill and now in this very important job as the director. so welcome back and thank you for your time this morning. i will yield such time as i may consume for an opening statement. i am not going to read my statement. i just want to talk to you. i want to talk to my colleagues and the american people. the president says, and i wholeheartedly agree, that budgets are more than just numbers on the ledger. they are a statement of values.

they are a vision for this country. they are a set of policies. so when he says show me your budget and i will show you your values i agree. i just say it a little differently. i say show me your budget and i will show you your beliefs. i'm not going to question his motives or your motives about your beliefs and values and policies outlined in the budget. i am simply going to say that there is not a clear or starker contrast between the president's beliefs and the beliefs of at least the republicans who served with me on the budget committee. and so the beliefs i'm talking about are the beliefs and the role of government in the lives of its citizens. the role of government in solving the problems of our

country. beliefs and where we are, the conditions we are living in and the cause and effect of the policies of this president over the last few years. beliefs, quite frankly and what the president thinks the american people think about the last three years and the policies and the outcomes and the current conditions people are living with. the better way to say that is, if the president is going to double down on the last three years, i've got to give him credit and i mean this with all respect. he puts it on paper and continues to stay committed to his beliefs on the policies that he has advanced over the last three years. i would say it is disconnected from the american people and their reality and their needs and desire from different direction. i think it is disconnected from the pain that

they are feeling especially when it comes to their pocketbook and the record inflation, the interest payments on their home and car. we have more consumer debt than ever. we have more credit card debt than we have ever had. people are taking more money out of the 401(k). it is a crisis. i know that we all have a view of what is a crisis and i hear a lot about the climate crisis for my democratic colleagues. i grant you i don't travel as much around the country as i do my own district, but my folks i would say that the biggest crisis right now is the safety and security of their families because of the policies at the border and the flow of crime and criminals and drugs that threaten their neighborhoods and families and friends and

fellow citizens. and their pocketbook and the cost of living. . that is why i think the american people, i don't put a lot of stock in pools, but i think it is representative of our citizens saying we want something different. so here are some things i have taken away from the beliefs. this budget suggests the president and those who support the president believe we should expand entitlements when we have not even paid for the two most important, social security and medicare. they will be insolvent but creating more. we have more people trapped on dependency on the government than we have ever had because we do not have real

consideration for work capable people going back to work that receive assistance. so we expand medicaid, without consideration for the kind of work requirements he supported when he was a senator. there is an expansion of subsidies to people making 400, 500, even $600,000 because of the eligibility. the studies show during the temporary expansion that more than half the people on their were above the 400% poverty level. so you and the president suggest in the budget that he's going to use somehow the ira drug price control savings to be expanded to $200 billion in savings and use that to shore up medicare. we ought to work together to support -- shore up medicare. kudos to the president for at least outlining a way to do

that. he grabs for a tax hike and savings from the drug price control. i disagree with the strategy and the policy but nevertheless here is my question. why should we believe the president is going to use those savings when the last time through the ira there were savings and medicare that were used to subsidize green energy. it did not go back into the medicare. you are saying things in this budget that in practice have not been followed. there are things republicans have said. we have a piece of paper that is very different. so if you go back to the biblical admonition show me the fruit of your works, let me tell you, there is as much deficiency with following through on the balanced-budget as some of the criticism i'm levying.

i'm trying to be an equal opportunity criticize or. our budget is different. we do not leaves $16 trillion or $17 trillion or $18 trillion in debt. we take that off and use it to balance. we don't raise taxes when we are teetering on recession. a lot of those half past higher expenses to people. we do not use taxes. we try to reinvest and reignite growth through tax reform regulatory reform, trade. so there are two different relief systems. what i think i would summarize to say in closing is my democratic colleagues and is government believe in more government and more spending as the answers to the problems the country faces. i think very strongly that our belief system articulated in the budget suggests that we

believe in less government, less spending, less taxes, more empowerment, more freedom, more better quality of life. prosperity will raise all boats. it will create the greatest anti-poverty program ever known to man which is more jobs, more opportunities, higher paychecks, better quality of life and standard of living. that is my perspective. i think those two belief systems are as clear to the american people as you can get. like i said, i respect that the president is not to staying with the horse he's been riding on, he is galloping at a pace we have not seen yet which i think will end an even greater disaster than what we have been experiencing. with that, i will let you have as much time with the ranking

member opening comments. >> thank you. it's great to have you back here, director young. it's common this time of year in this cycle to hear the question, are you better off than you were four years ago. four years ago today then president trump was busy tweeting out crazy conspiracy theories about covid-19. by the end of the month 1,000,000 1/2 americans would lose their jobs by the end of the following month a record 20 1/2 million americans would lose their jobs. many american families were stuck inside probably like my family. i was on zoom in a little office in my house. my wife teaching her second grade class from the dining room on zoom and our daughter, a kindergarten or at the time, in her kindergarten class sitting at the kitchen table.

most american families were worried about making ends meet and keeping their mental health . let's look at where instead we are today. all of the jobs that were lost during covid have been earned back and more. unemployment has been below 4% for a record 25 consecutive months, the longest and more than a half-century. in 2023, contrary to what we heard about supposedly teetering on recession and despite the predictions of all the naysayers, 2 1/2% economic growth, more than any other peer economy in the world. inflation has cooled considerably. we are now almost at the fed target and as we confirmed yesterday it is

projected the fed will cut rates by 75 basis points over the course of the year. it has gotten so good, mr. chairman, that the center right economist out with this latest headline, americas pumped up economy. so when we consider the fact that this economy has come all the way back from the depths of where we were four years ago today, why in the world would we ever go back to where we were just four short years ago? that is exactly where republicans want to lead us. just yesterday afternoon, i appreciate the timing for this hearing today, a republican study committee released its 2025 budget. here's what they propose. cutting social security by 1 1/2 trillion dollars. raising the retirement age, cuts promised to benefits for

those who are currently paying into the system and near retirement age. medicare, $1 trillion worth of cuts. it would end the medicare guarantee and turn medicare into a premium support system. seniors would have to fend for themselves on the open market with nothing but a coupon to offset as much of the cost of the insurance as they could find. medicaid and the affordable care act cut by an additional 4 1/2 trillion dollars. this is the republican budget and what they plan to do if they were to gain full control. so mr. chairman, you are right. there's a stark and clear difference between the two visions. one is a vision that would take us back to the depths of where we were just four years ago. the other is a vision that has

literally led the world in economic growth. i look forward to hearing more about the details of both of those visions today. i look forward to your testimony, director young. thank you. >> i think the ranking member from pennsylvania. in the interest of time if any other members have opening statements i ask that you submit them for the record. we will hold that at the end of the day to accommodate members that have not yet prepared opening statements. i would like to recognize director young and thank you for being here with us today. i yield five minutes. >> thank you, chairman, ranking member and members of the committee. it is a pleasure being here with you today. it's a little bit like coming home. i also want to thank the staff. as the chairman noted i was a staffer in the house for the appropriations committee.

i take anything bad about the budget committee i may have set back. that was certainly before you were heads of this esteemed committee. a lot of my remarks will be about contrast. where this president stands and i am proud to present his fourth budget the fiscal year 2025 budget. from day one of this administration president biden has tackled challenges head-on while delivering long-lasting results. over the past three years he has overseen a strong economic recovery amidst one of the most successful legislative records in generations, grown the economy from the middle out and bottom up and delivered important progress for the american people. under his leadership we have added about 15 million jobs. the unemployment rate has remained below 4% over two years , a more than 50 year record. inflation has fallen by two thirds. the administration has taken action for working families on

everything from prescription drug costs to everyday goods and services. the president's top priority remains more, to help hard- working americans. the president has also restored u.s. leadership on the world stage while keeping americans safe and promoting democracy here and abroad. the president has delivered this progress for the american people while fulfilling his commitment to fiscal responsibility. the deficit is more than $1 trillion lower than when the president took office thanks in large part to a strong economic recovery. in addition, the president has also enacted another roughly $1 trillion in savings over the next decade through the fiscal responsibility act. the president 2025 budget details his vision for a more equitable, prosperous and powerful america with proposals for responsible investments in the american people.

the budget protects and builds on the progress made over the last three years and proposes additional policies to lower costs for hard-working families. including for health insurance, prescription drugs, childcare, utilities, housing, college, energy and more. these will help working families keep more of their hard-earned paychecks and strengthen the economy. it also invests in america and working families. president biden has shown us we can be both fiscally responsible and invest in america. it will bolster manufacturing and industry across the nation. make communities healthier and safer. provide paid leave. support research in cancer, deliver for veterans, cut taxes for families with children, promote a flexible and dynamic workforce and more. it protects medicare and social security, that bedrock programs generations have counted on and seniors have paid into their entire working lives. it extends medicare solvency

indefinitely by requiring wealthy people to pay their fair share toward medicare and reducing prescription drug costs and reflects the commitment to reject any benefit cuts to social security , extend solvency by asking the highest income americans to pay their fair share, improve financial security for seniors and people with disabilities and ensure that americans can access the benefits they earned. in what would be a decisive decade for america.. the budget achieves all of this that honors the presidents promise that nobody earning under. it reduces the benefit for over

the next three years on top of paying for new investments by cracking down on fraud, wasteful spending and abuse including by reducing prescription drug costs and making the corporations pay their fair share. thank you mr. chairman, ranking member boyle, thank you all for the opportunity today. >> thank you. we now move to the question-and- answer portion of the hearing. i will give myself five minutes. >> let's be clear here. the president was in hiding for 100 days. chuck schumer swore he would never negotiate a debt ceiling. we had colleagues on this committee say it is reckless. we should not do it and the sky is falling. because republicans said we cannot let -- we cannot

just have a clean debt ceiling where we don't consider the $34 trillion record that for this country. $20 trillion that would be added. is unsustainable -- i can look you in the eyes and tell you republicans led and we reduced spending year-over-year. i appreciate that the president and administration worked with us but had republicans not pushed back, had we not led we would not have that record. i think people need to understand that is the kind of pushback and political courage that republicans and democrats have to exercise to bring the debt down. i don't believe that the president is fiscally responsible, but not because he says he is or doesn't say he is

in speeches. it is because the last three years we have seen $6 trillion plus in new debt add to the national debt. because his budget that we are talking about today puts us on a path of the highest sustained spending taxes in the history of the country. that is a fact also. there's nothing fiscally responsible about that. leaving an average debt of $1.6 trillion a year is not fiscally responsible. that is a deferred tax on our children. we will bankrupt the country. i get that there is no perfect plan. they have not reduced spending like i think is the driver of the debt, but this is making things worse. this is gasoline on the fire that is consuming not only the money and the pocketbooks of our fellow americans, but it will burn up any hope for a

bright, prosperous future for our children. you thought i had a question. i'm going to have a question. my question is, if i asked you -- i don't want to trap you or gotcha -- we had an fra agreement. it was a spending cap. i thought it was a good deal and i still think it's a good deal but not nearly as good as i thought. most members feel the same way because -- in your expert a degree black belt in appropriations jujitsu, we had a bunch of side deals that were off-balance-sheet spending. the american people have no clue, director young, about what is budget authority and what is outlays. what we do is we stuff the turkey of emergency spending. we stuff the turkey of other gimmicks like chimps and rescissions and the american people never see. then we go

out and do press conferences and press releases that we have a topline of $1.59 trillion. we reduced spending. does that bother you? i think if the american people deploy the same budget gimmicks and accounting fraud they would go to prison. by the way, republicans do it every bit as much. will you agree on that? will you work with me to clean that up at a minimum. whether the spending is more or less the same, can we all agree we cannot hide the ball from the american people and this is accounting fraud? >> mr. chairman, you will not be surprised to hear my response. i think you have seen two different press releases that came out of the budget deal. i think democrats were very happy to point out that we were going to be able to maintain spending for childcare and nih

and all of the other things and produce what we call a nondefense discretionary in a flat scenario. we were very honest about that it was necessary to see 76% of democrats vote for that package . >> why didn't we put it in the budget authority? why did we have to stick nonemergency items an emergency? why did we have to put the suggesting reducing spending when we are adding more to spending. it's fair enough to say we committed to spending more and we think it's a good thing but it is not the 159. this is in addition to it. shouldn't we at least deal with numbers that the american people understand so they know what the government leaders are doing and what they are paying for the government? i'm not saying you are arguing for more spending and we were arguing for less. there's no western about that. it grew 40% since covid. we thought we ought to right size the bureaucracy.

fair enough to debate that. i'm talking about transparency. can we work together to make that more transparent? >> esther chairman, what matters to me and what matters to the president is what we are able to invest in. these programs that help working families across the country. whether it is what you call chimps which are changes in mandatory programs or emergency spending, what matters is how much goes to childcare grants. how much goes to headstart. mr. chairman, if there is an interest in doing that straight with the budget authority we are with you. we were negotiating in good faith with then speaker mccarthy who had his own outline of how he would like to see the numbers come in, and as you point out we came to the table and worked out a deal. the bill you will see today and that you are going to vote on in fiscal year 24 complies with that deal, but i appreciate the complaints about it.

it's a show of bipartisanship that both parties were able to come together, six months late, and we certainly hope and you will hear from the president that the bill is passed as soon as possible to prevent an avoidable shutdown. you have my commitment to work. if the other side wants this budget authority, it does not matter to us. what matters is the investments we are able to make for the american people. >> i will reserve my calling -- comments. the ranking member and others could ask questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. this week the cover of the economist. all of these news outlets as well. i will read off a couple in terms of the performance of the economy under the biden administration. the washington post, u.s. economies rising growth and falling inflation quells recession fears.

limburg, the u.s. is still world's biggest economy as it extends its lead over china. bbc, u.s. economy is powering ahead of europe. cnn, another shockingly good jobs report shows america's economy is booming. the guardian, biden right to say u.s. economy is worlds strongest, trump ally says. i can go on and on about the record of this administration as it relates to economic strength. let me turn to social security and medicare. i talked about the republican budget just released yesterday. the republican study committee includes 80% of house republicans proposing trillions of cuts in social security and medicare. it does seem aligned with what former president trump said just last week on cnbc former president trump said, quote, there is a lot you can do in terms of

entitlements, in terms of cutting.". i wonder if the president agrees , president biden agrees with former president trump's view of a lot to do in terms of cutting entitlements or the budget which cuts social security and medicare. you agree with that approach? and what approach has president biden's administration taken in this new fiscal year budget. >> you heard it from the president himself at the state of the union. he will not assign any legislation and we will do anything to prevent benefit cuts . these are not just programs. the people who paid into them their entire lives. imagine having the rug pulled from under you. thinking you are going to retire and social security and medicare will be there for you. we think there should be plans to make sure they are solvent in addition to no benefit cuts

we believe the highest income earners in this country paying more into both of those programs would create a solvency situation without having to cut benefits. >> let me interject their just a segue to what i think you are about to see to. weather has been bipartisan agreement a number of us have acknowledged that with social security the trust fund is a expected to expire in 2034. and medicare they are set to go insolvent before that. no one up here is saying we can't do anything. i was wondering if you could address that and talk about that. >> i talked about the principles he believes in. one he does not get as much attention including no benefit cuts and asking the wealthiest americans to pay more. we need to make sure americans can access their social security benefits. look at the social security

administration's budget. as beneficiaries grow the number of staff and resources are on the complete opposite curb on the way down. with asked for increases. speaking of nondiscretionary we don't some things like social security. we implore you, please pass the social security administration 9% increase the president is asking for. for medicare solvency of seen this proposal before from the president that asks the wealthiest individuals to pay 1.2% more into medicare. also prescription drug savings. if we expand those provisions allowing medicare to negotiate that saves for seniors and for the government. we also closed tax loopholes. those who find ways not to pay into medicare and ensure that they do. those things extend medicare insolvency in perpetuity. i hope that we can take that

proposal seriously and get it debated. >> let me remind folks that the ability, the first time ever for medicare to negotiate down the cost of prescription drugs was thanks to the inflation reduction act which every single republican member of the house and senate voted against. with that, i think the director and healed back. >> i think the gentleman for only using the five minutes. >> democratic efficiency again. >> i teed that one up for you. >> ralph norman from the palmetto state, five minutes. >> thank you for the call. you are always good about that. as the chairman mentioned, the president has been in hiding. he did come out of hiding is, i

don't call it the state of the union, i call it the state of the screen. he did rita teleprompter pretty well. let me ask you this. how do you define paying your fair share? >> thank you. in our proposals on revenues i can talk about a few. one, corporations before 2017 tax law paid 35%. we would ask that corporations go to 28% samadhi been as far back as they were paying before the 2017 tax law. taking into capital gains. we are trying to get revenues back when we talk about surplus in 2000, 2001 back to those historical averages that allowed for those to create surpluses. >> if you ask everyday americans, what they agree with a $4.7 billion southwest border

security fund that absorbs illegals into the country? with the average american agree with $3.2 billion? for advanced gender equity and equality whatever that means? what they agree with $2.5 billion centers for disease control to address the causes of violence in the communities. when he is letting everybody from 160 countries including gang members coming to america. 60 million for gun violence research across the cdc and the nih. when you and when you let everybody come in that has been seen and the crime in this country is skyrocketing and what americans agree with 11 million to preserve stories of cultures