Congressional Republicans lambast budget proposal

Senate and House Republican budget leaders railed against a White House budget on Monday that they say fails to rein in spending, cut the deficit or protect healthcare programs for seniors. 

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the $3.8 trillion proposal is rife with gimmicks designed to show savings that don't exist while failing to create a long-term budget plan to shore up the nation's balance sheet.

President Obama's spending plan aims to cut $4 trillion from the deficit over 10 years, a claim Sessions called "exceedingly deceptive," in a call with reporters on Monday. 

Of that total, $3 trillion in reductions would come from a combination of tax increases — $1.5 trillion in new taxes, including the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts, which Congress approved for two more years in December 2010, for workers making at least $250,000 a year and trimming some corporate tax breaks; $800 billion in savings from the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; $278 billion in mandatory spending cuts; and $360 billion in Medicare and other entitlement cuts.

Obama’s proposal includes $350 billion in stimulus measures and $476 billion for transportation and infrastructure that would be partially paid for by savings from the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a plan Republicans deem a budget gimmick saying savings can't be squeezed from money that was never intended to be spent. 

"When you look at the numbers all we're getting here there is more spending, borrowing and more debt that will lead to slower economic growth," Ryan said. 

"This is a political plan for the president's reelection designed to help the president in a reelection campaign and a duck taking responsibility for solving a predictable debt crisis," he said. 

Ryan accused the president of punting on taking "any credible action" on the budget.

Republicans argued on Monday that the president is using the tax cuts instead of the $1.2 trillion in built-in sequestration set for 2013 to reduce the deficit. The president's budget doesn't include those cuts in its budget plan. 

Without any action by Congress and the president, current law spending would drop about $2 trillion, including that $1.2 trillion in designated cuts agreed to during the debt-limit debate. 

"It's a tax and spend budget," Sessions said. 

"We're disappointed about where we are, the nation is on an unsustainable debt course," he said. 

Sessions said he is determined to pass a budget that will "change the debt course." 

Republicans argue that the tax increases actually amount to $1.9 trillion, and calls $4 trillion in cuts "inaccurate at best." 

The budget also doesn't include details about how the Medicare "doc fix" — reimbursement rates to doctors under Medicare — so that negates another $522 billion in reported savings the budget over 10 years, which Republicans say should be subtracted from the $3 trillion reported savings.

Congress is currently trying to figure out a way to pay for the cost as well as a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits through the end of the year. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said he doesn't intend to bring a budget to the floor for consideration — arguing that the debt-limit deal agreed to in August stands as a budget plan for next year. 

Ryan is working on his own budget proposal that is likely to look similar to his plan from last year, which was approved by the House but didn't go through the Senate. The budget is still under construction and Republican aides wouldn't speculate on what the plan will include.