Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget request includes tens of billions of dollars for federal construction and infrastructure programs, supplementing the big gains provided in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
But within the $5.85-trillion proposal, sent to Congress on March 28, some line-items would be increased from 2022 levels, such as new starts for transit, and others would be cut, such as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ civil works.
The release of the budget is only the kickoff of what will be months of review and debate on Capitol Hill about fiscal 2023 spending. It would not be surprising for Congress to fail to approve the 12 individual appropriations bills by Oct. 1 when the new fiscal year begins.
In fact, the fiscal 2022 spending round was not wrapped up until March 15 of this year, more than five months after the current fiscal year began.
The new budget and appropriations season comes during a midterm election year, at a time when partisan fights will heat up. That could make a deal on fiscal 2023 spending even harder to achieve.
Charles Seville, America’s sovereign co-head for Fitch, a credit-rating firm, said in a statement that “many of the policy measures included in the budget remain unlikely to be passed.
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