"My project is centered on investment in the United States (...), including (for) the places and the people who have been forgotten", launched the Democratic president.

During a speech at union offices in Philadelphia, in a strategic Pennsylvania for the elections, Joe Biden, who officially only "intends" to run again in 2024, already seemed to be campaigning.

The 80-year-old Democrat has multiplied foot calls to Donald Trump voters, with the slogan "Make America great again" ("Make America great again"), or "MAGA".

And tried to show the American middle class that the measures that are favorable to it come from the Democratic camp, not the Republican.

He claims to be able to reduce the deficit by nearly 3,000 billion over 10 years, a snub to the Republican opposition, which regularly accuses him of reckless spending.

The strongest measures of his project, however, have almost no chance of passing the barrier of Congress, because, since the beginning of the year, the Democrats only control the Senate, the other chamber, that of the representatives. , now being dominated by the Republicans.

Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy called the budget "a reckless proposal that replicates the same far-left spending policies that have led to record inflation and our current debt crisis."

Joe Biden said he was "ready to meet him anytime tomorrow".

"Just Share"

Republicans are determined not to let any tax increase pass.

However, to finance his budget, the American president wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 28%, against 21% today, and 35% before Donald Trump lowers it in 2017.

"I want to cut taxes, they want to cut taxes for the rich and big business," Joe Biden said.

Another additional source of income envisaged by the Democrat, the introduction of a minimum tax of 25% for billionaires, or the richest 0.01% of Americans.

“We need to ask the richest and biggest corporations to start paying their fair share,” he said.

This should make it possible to finance the flagship measure of the project: to ensure for 25 additional years the financing of a health insurance plan benefiting Americans over 65, the “Medicare”, without touching the benefits.

"If the MAGA Republicans in Congress try to repeal the law (...), I will not let them do it," promised Joe Biden.

"Big Pharma" and "Big Oil"

He also played on the sensitive chord of security to try to seduce the Republican electorate: "my budget provides for solid investments in our army and our defense. Let's see what the Republicans MAGA propose", name given to those reputedly close to Donald Trump.

On the spending side, he intends to reduce some deemed "useless", targeting in particular "Big Pharma", that is to say the pharmaceutical sector, and "Big Oil", the oil industry, which he regularly accuses of excessive profits. .

This budget presentation comes against a backdrop of arm wrestling on another financial subject, much more urgent: the "raising of the debt ceiling".

The United States, the only industrialized power in this case, must regularly increase, via a vote in Congress, the government's debt capacity.

However, this vote, which has long been a formality, is increasingly politicized.

Kevin McCarthy assures his troops will not vote to raise the debt ceiling until Joe Biden curbs public spending.

The Democrat, he has so far refused to negotiate, arguing that the debt accumulated over the years by the country is a shared responsibility.

"It took 200 years to accumulate this debt. (...) And besides, President Trump, when he was president, increased the national debt by 25%, in just four years", underlined Joe Biden.

The stakes are not small: if the standoff goes on too long, the United States would be under the threat of default, never before seen, from July.

© 2023 AFP