Vox Sentences - What's in Biden's budget?

Biden’s budget targets the wealthy and the federal deficit; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy offers neutrality as Putin tries to split Ukraine.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

Biden unveils 2023 budget

Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

• President Joe Biden released his $5.8 trillion budget proposal on Monday, calling for increased funding to fight challenges domestically and abroad, slashing the federal deficit, and raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations [Associated Press / Josh Boak]
• Biden’s 2023 budget revives parts of his stalled Build Back Better agenda, including initiatives to fight climate change, expand the child tax credit, and reduce the costs of prescription drugs. Echoing points from his State of the Union, the budget also includes roughly $32 billion in additional funding for police, millions to help embattled supply chains, and additional support for Ukraine. [National Public Radio / Tamara Keith]
• While the budget is a mostly symbolic request that will change with input from Congress, the plan shows the Biden administration’s policy priorities. It offers Democrats a possible roadmap for retaining control of the House and Senate in the 2022 midterm elections. [Axios / Hans Nichols]
• As the US and its allies continue to help Ukraine fend off the Russian invasion, the budget also requests more than $800 billion to bolster national security, including billions for missile warning and defense systems. [New York Times / Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Alan Rappeport]
• The plan would reduce the annual deficit by $1 trillion over the next decade, reflecting a new focus on fiscal responsibility likely prompted by discussions with centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), whose vote will be crucial. Reducing deficit spending is an attempt to address inflation — over the long term, at least — a primary concern among voters ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. [Washington Post / Jeff Stein]
• The administration proposes a new minimum 20 percent tax on Americans worth more than $100 million to pay for the plan, including on assets yet to be sold. The tax — which would apply to 0.01 percent of Americans — is projected to reduce the federal deficit by $360 billion over the next decade. The corporate tax rate would rise to 28 percent from 21 percent. [Reuters /  Andrea Shalal and Trevor Hunnicutt]

Zelenskyy offers neutrality as Putin tries to split Ukraine

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is willing to discuss the neutral status and security guarantees for Ukraine, even as a top Ukrainian official says Russian President Vladimir Putin has shifted his focus to splitting the country in two. The Kremlin ordered Russian media not to share the information. [Reuters / Pavel Polityuk and Oleksandr Kozhukhar]
• “Security guarantees and neutrality, non-nuclear status of our state. We are ready to go for it. This is the most important point,” Zelenskyy said in a Sunday interview with independent Russian journalists. He refused to submit to other Russian demands like demilitarizing Ukraine. [Axios / Julia Shapero]
• In the wake of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, Ukraine voted to join NATO and drop its neutral status. Zelenskyy also said in the interview that any changes would require the vote of the Ukrainian people and that neutrality would be impossible as long as Russian troops continued occupying Ukrainian cities. [Washington Post]
• With the Russian invasion of Ukraine in its fifth week, Russian ground forces have, according to a senior US defense official, stopped advancing toward the capital Kyiv and are focused on holding the eastern Donbas region. [USA Today
• A Ukrainian general says Putin’s plan would see Ukraine split between the occupied eastern Donbas region and the Ukrainian west. [Guardian / Daniel Boffey]

On Monday, a federal judge ruled that former President Donald Trump most likely committed crimes — including obstruction of Congress and defrauding the United States— in his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. [NYT / Luke Broadwater and Alan Feuer]

• Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was allegedly poisoned — with Kremlin involvement suspected — while attending peace talks in Kyiv earlier this month. He has since recovered. [Wall Street Journal / Yaroslav Trofimov and Max Colchester]
• Vice President Kamala Harris’s circle of trusted advisers has become smaller amid the challenges of office and being the first woman and person of color in her role. [Los Angeles Times / Noah Bierman and Melanie Mason]
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Monday the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The legislation prohibits classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity. [NBC / Matt Lavietes]

“In fact, it is an attempt to create North and South Korea in Ukraine. After all, [Putin] is definitely not able to swallow the entire country.”

[Ukrainian Gen. Kyrylo Budanov discusses Putin’s possible intentions with Ukraine]

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