GOP takes aim at Dem spending plans

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

House Republicans redoubled their efforts to roll back signature accomplishments of President Barack Obama on Tuesday, offering a slashing budget plan that would repeal new health-care subsidies and cut spending across a wide swath of programs dear to Obama and his Democratic allies.

The GOP plan was rejected immediately by the White House as an approach that “just doesn’t add up” and would harm America’s middle class. Obama said the plan would “slash deeply” into programs such as Medicaid.

Obama has rebuffed similar GOP plans two years in a row and ran strongly against the ideas when winning re-election last year — when its chief author, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was on the Republican ticket.

Ryan’s budget illustrates the stark differences in the visions of tea party-backed Republicans and Obama and his Democratic allies about the size and role of government — with no obvious avenues for compromise.

Obama, in an ABC-TV interview Tuesday, said he would not seek to balance the federal budget in 10 years, as Ryan’s plan attempts to do, when he submits his fiscal blueprint to Congress next month.

“My goal is not to chase a balanced budget just for the sake of balance,” he said. “My goal is how do we grow the economy, put people back to work, and if we do that, we are going to be bringing in more revenue.”

Senate Democrats are responding with a plan that would repeal automatic spending cuts that began to take effect earlier this month while offering $100 billion in new spending for infrastructure and job training. The Democratic plan will be unveiled officially today.