Obama says GOP budget is stuck in the past

President Obama on Tuesday ripped the new budget blueprint from House Republicans, declaring the plan would not help the middle class.

“We’re going to have a robust debate,” Obama told reporters at the White House shortly after House Republicans released their plan.

“It’s not a budget that reflects the future,” the president said. “It’s not a budget that reflects growth. It’s not a budget that is going to help ensure that middle class families are able to maintain security and stability, and that people who are trying to get into the middle class have the rungs on the ladder to get into the middle class.”

{mosads}The House Republicans’ plan would $5.5 trillion in federal spending over the next decade and balance the federal books within nine years. The resolution aims to repeal the Affordable Care Act, partially privatize Medicare, and replace Medicaid with block grants to states.

Obama supports increased spending on items like infrastructure, education and transportation, and put forward a budget blueprint in February that would add $6 trillion to deficits over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The president made his comments after a St. Patrick’s Day meeting with Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny and said he “was hoping for a little luck of the Irish as the Republicans put forward their budget today.”

“I’ll keep my four leaf clover in my pocket and see if the Speaker and Mitch McConnell and others are interested in having that conversation.”

The House GOP’s budget sticks by spending cuts implemented under sequestration, but would inject money into a war fund that could be used to boost spending at the Pentagon

Earnest noted that some defense hawks, such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), have derided the move as a “gimmick,” saying the war account is “no better than a slush fund.”

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) slammed the GOP proposal Tuesday, characterizing it as “a disinvestment budget” that threatens the economy by keeping the sequester and relying on budget gimmicks to achieve the balance that Republicans claim.

“This budget doesn’t balance. It makes no hard decisions. … They pretend highways are going to be taken care of somehow in the future [but] they don’t provide for it,” Hoyer said.

“Nobody on our side thinks the sequester is a fiscally realistic path for the United States of America to follow and still be a competitive job-growing nation,” he added.

“It’s an interesting time for the Republicans. Because over the last number of years, they could blame [Sen. Harry] Reid and the Senate Democrats for not getting to a budget. They won’t have nobody to blame but themselves this time.”

Mike Lillis contributed.

— Updated at 2:13 p.m.