White House Struggles to Explain Why Joe Biden Is Months Late Releasing Budget

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden delivers remarks about the Affordable Care Act a
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The White House Monday could not offer a timeline of when it would release a budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

“We expect it to be very soon,” Psaki replied when asked about the lack of a budget. “I don’t have a timeline on that quite yet.”

Previous administrations have released some sort of budget, or at least a blueprint or outline of one, by the end of February.

The White House has promised the release of a “topline” budget outline, but the plan continues to suffer delays.

Psaki blamed former President Donald Trump’s administration for the delay, noting an “impactful intransigence” during the transition of power to Biden’s administration.

She also noted that Biden’s choice of Neera Tanden as the director of the Office of Management and Budget was ultimately not supported by the Senate. The Biden administration has still not nominated a replacement.

“We have now an acting budget director, which is an important step forward,” she said. “But again, we expect it to be soon.”

Asked about when Biden would replace Tanden, Psaki acknowledged she had no timeline for doing so.

“I’ve been here long enough not to make predictions of where he will land on a personnel announcement,” she said.

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