Biden Has a Choice: Guns or Butter.

"The last American President who tried to finance a war along with a new Great Society was Lyndon Johnson. It ended in inflation and retreat in Vietnam.

President Biden now wants Congress to help allies win two conflicts abroad, and deter a third over Taiwan, yet he wants to continue spending on everything as if nothing in the world has changed. He won't be able to do both.

Mr. Biden has asked Congress for $106 billion for arms to Ukraine and Israel, plus money for the U.S. southern border and the Pacific theater. These are urgent priorities as two conflicts rage and the U.S. military isn't remotely prepared to meet the growing threat of a Russia-Iran-China axis. Border security is the price of entry for GOP votes.

This will be hard enough to get through the GOP House, yet last week the White House asked Congress for $56 billion in "emergency" domestic spending. This is politically tone deaf, not least because the requests aren't remotely emergencies. They're more of the social pork barrel that dominated the Biden Administration's first two years.

Mr. Biden wants $144 million to "expand substance use and mental health prevention and treatment services in areas affected by the Maui fires." This is on top of $16 billion already appropriated for disaster relief. He wants $68 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to "build capacity for laboratory testing and biomonitoring."

The Department of Housing and Urban Development would get $2.8 billion for "long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and housing, economic revitalization, and mitigation" for California, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Illinois. Much of this will flow to politically connected contractors.

The White House also wants $310 million to "address the need for additional water infrastructure to prevent and reduce sewage flows and contamination in Southern California through support for ongoing design and construction at the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant." An ongoing project by definition is not an emergency.

Though the Northeast hasn't suffered a recent natural disaster, the Administration wants $1.6 billion to cover heating oil costs this year for lower-income folks in the region. How about pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul to let a natural gas pipeline be built through New York so Northeasterners don't have to burn higher-cost oil to heat their homes?

Although the President ended the Covid national emergency this spring, his request includes $6 billion to extend pandemic broadband subsidies for some 20 million lower-income households through December 2024 and another $16 billion to continue Covid child-care subsidies from the March 2021 American Rescue Plan Act that expired on Sept. 30.

The White House notes there's bipartisan support for many of its funding proposals, which may be true. But Democrats and the GOP's pork-barrel spenders agreed to this summer's debt-ceiling deal that capped domestic spending. Mr. Biden could ask Congress to include his proposals in individual appropriations bills if they are a priority, but that would mean making choices not to fund other things.

At stake here are Mr. Biden's sincerity and his obligation as Commander in Chief. He is asking Republicans to take a difficult vote for the good of the country at what he says is an "inflection point" in history. Does he mean it? If he does, then he should be willing to compromise by ditching more welfare spending. Wasn't the $11.6 trillion in non-defense spending in his first two years enough?

He should also be willing to make compromises on GOP priorities such as reforming the "credible fear" asylum standard that has become an essentially open door to anyone who claims it. There are two conflicts going on, Mr. President. Do you want the money to help our allies win them, or do you want to sacrifice Ukraine and U.S. defenses for broadband subsidies?" [1]

1.  Biden Has a Choice: Guns or Butter. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 01 Nov 2023: A.16.