Boxer: Republican spending bill is a political 'vendetta'

House Republicans’ long-term spending bill is a “vendetta” against the middle class and Planned Parenthood, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) charged this week.

"I believe that the H.R. 1 is a budget that in many ways is a political vendetta — when you zero out Planned Parenthood, when you go after the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency], when you go after the middle class like they do,” said Boxer. 

“It is a vendetta against the middle class, the working poor,” said Boxer. “There is no way that has to be done."

The spending bill originally passed by House Republicans cuts the government’s discretionary spending by about $61 billion for fiscal year 2011 and would eliminate all funding for Planned Parenthood and some funding for the EPA.

Boxer said she believes the budget must be balanced in part with tax hikes on the wealthy. 

"We have to balance our budget and we will, but we have to do it responsibly, we have to do it together — it can't be done like its a vendetta,” Boxer said, according to a video published by the San Francisco Gate on Thursday. "We know how to do that and I can tell you chapter and verse the way to do it.”

“All over the country you hear Republicans saying… ‘we're broke,’ " said Boxer. "They’re not broke enough that they are going to look at people who earn millions of dollars a year, billions of dollars a year, and say hey, maybe it’s time we paid a little more.’ ”