House GOP unveils budget to conservative opposition

The House Budget Committee on Tuesday unveiled a GOP spending vision for 2017 that promises to cut $7 trillion from the national deficit over a decade — the sharpest cuts ever proposed by the committee.

The 155-page budget resolution retains the spending ceilings included in last year’s spending deal between the White House and former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), however, ensuring opposition from conservatives.

{mosads}The House Freedom Caucus, which includes about 40 members, announced it would oppose the budget late Monday, which will make it all but impossible for the resolution to be approved on the House floor.

Republican leaders need 218 votes for passage, which means they can only lose about two dozen members of the caucus. Votes on the budgets are typically party-line.

The GOP budget repeals ObamaCare, shrinks the Commerce Department, strips funding from the Environmental Protection Agency, creates a pay-in structure for Medicare and give states control over the food stamps program.

It would add $89 billion more in military funding than what President Obama has proposed.

Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) said the proposal would lay out ways to “get our fiscal house in order.”

“It is a plan to balance the budget through commonsense reforms and greater economic growth; to create a healthier economy, more secure nation, and a more accountable Washington,” Price wrote in a statement Tuesday.

The committee plans to hold a markup on the document on Wednesday.

The Congressional Budget Office predicts it would cut $6.7 trillion from the federal deficit, according to a report released Tuesday.

The nonpartisan scorekeeper also noted that economic output would drop because of a sharp decline in federal spending, leading to lower demand. CBO also predicted less federal borrowing would dry up some of the resources for private investment, though, over time, it would reverse.