Image Credit: Oliver Contreras | White House
The Center Square [By Casey Harper] –
President Joe Biden’s persistent push for billions of dollars in taxpayer funding toward progressive ideology on gender and race at home and abroad is under fire.
Since Biden took office, the federal government has doled out huge sums to prop up Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and LGBTQ projects in the U.S. and around the globe.
Biden’s budget, proposed earlier this month, drew attention for its many proposed tax increases and $7.3 trillion in proposed spending.
The White house announced the budget includes $3 billion to “advance gender equity and equality worldwide,” a request that’s several hundred million dollars more than last year’s budget.
On top of that, the budget provides hundreds of millions of dollars to train the next generation of school teachers in progressive orthodoxy on race, gender and sexuality issues.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blasted Biden’s push for more spending on progressive gender ideology.
“Biden’s budget is not a real budget – it is a campaign messaging item,” Cruz told The Center Square. “DEI is the cornerstone of Biden’s woke ideology, so it’s no surprise that his budget reflects his divisive ideology. Biden’s budget proposes $5 trillion in new taxes to fund these worthless woke programs. Despite Biden’s gaslighting at the State of the Union, Americans know that our economy is in trouble.”
While the president’s budget does not get passed wholesale into law, it sets the agenda for the White House and sends a clear message to Congress, particularly members of the president’s own party, on what to prioritize that year.
As The Center Square previously reported, one example of that kind of spending in the president’s budget includes a $30 million allotment to the Hawkins Centers of Excellence, a federal program for teachers that trains them in inclusivity on race, gender and sexuality.
The taxpayer-funded programs are set up at institutions that historically serve minority populations and must “examine the sources of inequity and inadequacy in resources and opportunity and implement pedagogical practices in teacher preparation programs that are inclusive with regard to race, ethnicity, culture, language, and disability status and that prepare teachers to create inclusive, supportive, equitable, unbiased, and identity-safe learning environments for their students.”
This kind of spending is not merely a proposal in Biden’s budget, however. It is already commonplace across the federal government.
For example, the Pentagon has prioritized spending tax dollars on DEI and LGBTQ issues, such as $86.5 million for “dedicated diversity and inclusion activities.”
In one example, the 2022 Department of Defense Comptroller report noted, “ensuring accountable leadership by adding nearly $500 million in FY 2023 to implement the recommendations of the Independent Review Commission (IRC) on Sexual Assault in the Military, enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) programs, and addressing extremism in the ranks.”
“The Department will lead with our values – building diversity, equity, and inclusion into everything we do,” the report added.
In another example, as The Center Square previously reported, the latest Congressional budget passed and signed into law included a litany of earmarks, when lawmakers set aside federal money for pet projects in their districts.
One such earmark is for $1 million to renovate the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia.
These examples are just a few of many that have become commonplace priorities in the budgets of lawmakers, the White House and the federal agencies.
Biden’s budget doubles down on these kinds of spending measures.
Meanwhile, the national debt is drawing closer to $35 trillion with no signs of slowing down.
Cruz argued the gender spending is far from Americans’ top priority.
“The price of rent, groceries, gas, and utilities has skyrocketed with Biden’s inflation,” Cruz said.
“The last thing our economy needs is more woke spending. This election, the American people have a choice: keep voting for financial policies that are bankrupting the country over worthless woke programs, or vote for jobs, opportunity, and security.”
