Republicans' budget plan takes aim at Obama

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in the House of Representatives redoubled their efforts to roll back signature accomplishments of President Barack Obama, offering a slashing budget plan that would cut spending across a wide swath of programs dear to Democrats.

The White House immediately rejected the plan as an approach that would harm America's middle class. Obama has rebuffed similar plans before and ran strongly against the ideas when winning re-election last year — when the plan's chief author, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, was the Republican nominee for vice president.

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

The plan was unveiled a day before Obama makes a rare visit to Congress to meet with House Republicans.

Obama has been reaching out to Republicans in an effort to ease the bitter partisanship over fiscal and other issues that left the last Congress as one of the least productive since World War II. Their inability to reach a compromise on a debt-cutting plan has left the country dealing with $85 billion in blunt, economy-threatening spending cuts that neither side wanted.

The president also meets with Senate Republicans and House Democrats on Thursday.

The president is pressing for a "grand bargain" on addressing the country's massive $16.6 trillion debt that would attract more moderate elements from both parties — even as this week's competing budget presentations are tailored to appeal strictly along party lines.

Obama would like to see the federal government save money by fixing loopholes in the tax code, but Republicans want to see more cuts in spending, especially in domestic safety net programs such as health coverage. Republicans, who control the House, object to any new tax increases.

Asked in an ABC interview Tuesday whether he will propose a budget that balances in 10 years, Obama said he would not. He said his "goal is not to chase a balanced budget just for the sake of balance." He said he wants to improve the economy and put people in jobs. "If we do that, we are going to be bringing in more revenue," he said.

Another pressing fiscal issue is keeping the government funded through the end of the budget year in late September and avoiding a possible government shutdown at the end of this month. Current funding runs out March 27.

Driving the House Republicans' plan is a promise to pass a budget that would balance the government's books, which the measure would achieve by cutting $756 billion over 10 years from the Medicaid health program for the poor and disabled, cutting deeply into the day-to-day budgets of domestic agencies and repealing new health coverage subsidies enacted two years ago with Obama's signature health care bill.

"While the House Republican budget aims to reduce the deficit, the math just doesn't add up," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. "Deficit reduction that asks nothing from the wealthiest Americans has serious consequences for the middle class."

Senate Democrats, who control their chamber, are responding with a milder budget plan that would repeal deep spending cuts that began to take effect earlier this month while offering $100 billion in new spending for infrastructure and job training. The plan won't be officially unveiled until Wednesday, but its rough outlines were described by aides. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to describe it publicly.

That plan would raise taxes by almost $1 trillion over a decade and cut spending by almost $1 trillion over the same period.