Obama headed to Cleveland to slam GOP budget plan
President Obama will travel to Cleveland on Wednesday to wage a battle with Republicans over the economy.
The White House is seeking to draw a stark contrast with House Republicans, who took aim at Obama priorities like healthcare programs for the poor and elderly while cutting trillions of dollars in spending in their new budget proposal.
{mosads}Obama will deliver a speech at the City Club of Cleveland outlining a different approach, arguing that increased spending on domestic programs is needed to ensure that middle-class Americans see the benefits of economic growth.
“It’s not a budget that reflects the future. It’s not a budget that reflects growth,” Obama said of the House GOP’s plan at the White House on Tuesday. The president called for more investment in education and infrastructure programs.
Cleveland will play host in July 2016 to the Republican National Convention, where the GOP will choose a nominee to try to replace Obama.
The president’s trip is part of a broader push by the White House to seek the upper hand in the budget debate against Republicans, who took control of both chambers in Congress in January.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday the House Republicans’ budget contains “gimmicks” and “draconian cuts” that would hurt the poor and middle class while enacting new tax cuts that “benefit the wealthy.”
Senior administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that Obama would tout his budget’s emphasis on creating manufacturing jobs during his visit to the Rust Belt city.
The president’s $4 trillion budget plan includes a $350 million request to launch seven new manufacturing institutes next year, which would boost innovation and job training. That would add to nine manufacturing hubs already funded through this year, and the White House has called for full funding to create 45 institutes around the country.
Obama’s Cleveland trip includes a stop at the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET), a nonprofit group that consults with manufacturers.
The White House announced Wednesday a new $320 million competition for nonprofit groups in 12 states to provide technological consulting to small manufacturers, similar to MAGNET’s mission. The funding would be spread over five years, and half would come from private sources. Another $120 million is up for grabs for manufacturers, universities and nonprofits to create a manufacturing innovation hub focused on textiles.
The House Republicans’ plan would slash $5.5 trillion in spending over the next decade and balance the federal budget within nine years. The resolution also aims to repeal the Affordable Care Act, partially privatize Medicare and replace Medicaid with block grants to states.
The plan contains $1.1 trillion in cuts to nonmandatory programs, and Democrats say that could decimate social programs, such as food stamps and Pell Grants.
Obama’s budget plan, released in February, boosts spending on items like infrastructure, education and transportation, but would add $6 trillion in deficits over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Republicans have criticized the president for not working toward a balanced budget.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) last month called Obama’s plan a “another top-down, backward-looking document that caters to powerful political bosses on the left and never balances — ever.”
“Imagine if he was going there to push FOR his trade agenda, or any of the other items on his agenda that are being slowed by Democrats,” McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said in a statement on Wednesday. “Imagine what could get done. You have to wonder when he is going to get off the campaign trail and start trying to get things done?”
— This report was updated at 7:56 a.m.
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