Manchin dings Biden, White House for late budget

Sen. Joe Manchin III criticized President Biden on Thursday for missing the legal deadline to submit his budget to Congress.

Mr. Manchin, West Virginia Democrat, said that neither the White House nor Congress was taking proper responsibility for crafting a federal budget or dealing with the nearly $3.2 trillion deficit.

“We need to pass a budget on time, that’s by Sept. 30,” said Mr. Manchin. “The president’s already over a month behind schedule when he submits his budget next week, it was due on Feb. 6.” 

Presidents often miss the deadline for submitting budgets, but it is unusual for a member of the president’s own party to call him out about it. 

Mr. Manchin noted that a slew of legislation detailing the federal budget process stipulates the White House should submit a full budget by no later than the first week of February. Using that document as a blueprint, Congress is required to pass a resolution starting the formal budget process by the beginning of April.

The passage of such a resolution allows lawmakers to officially begin work on the 13 appropriations bills that fund the federal government. By law, the appropriations bills must pass by September 30 of each year or the government will shut down.

In recent years, lawmakers have ignored the deadline, opting instead to pass short-term funding measures to keep the government afloat.

“Since I’ve been here for 12 years, we have [not] passed a budget on time,” said Mr. Manchin.

The West Virginia Democrat, who is vying for reelection in a deeply conservative state in 2024, said the hectic process was adding to runaway spending.

“We need to stop digging our heels in and work out our differences when it comes to dealing and with controlling our spending and lifting the debt ceiling,” said Mr. Manchin.

The White House is expected to make a push to increase domestic spending and raise taxes in its budget proposal.

“I want to make it clear I’m going raise some taxes,” Mr. Biden said earlier this week. “I’m going to lay down in detail every single thing, every tax that’s out there that I’m proposing, and no one … making less than $400,000 is going to pay a penny more in taxes.”