GOP unveils budget plans in face of Obama opposition

WASHINGTON — Republicans controlling Congress on Wednesday unveiled a budget plan for the upcoming year and beyond, setting up a confrontation with President Barack Obama over his signature health care law and his vow to boost spending on domestic programs like transportation and education.

House-Senate negotiators on the sweeping — but nonbinding — budget plan sealed agreement Wednesday. The 10-year balanced budget plan calls upon lawmakers to repeal Obama’s health care law while enacting major curbs on safety net programs like Medicaid and food stamps. It would cut future-year budgets for domestic agencies below already tight spending “caps” that the White House vows to dismantle.

Separately, the House took up a normally bipartisan bill funding veterans’ programs, but the measure ran into unusual opposition from Democrats despite increases of almost 6 percent above current levels for the Department of Veterans Affairs. A vote is slated for today.

The broader 10-year budget plan promised to cut federal spending projected at almost $50 trillion over the coming decade by more than $5 trillion, with the bulk of the cuts coming from federal health care programs. The measure would pave the way to finally deliver a bill to repeal Obamacare to the president’s desk under special budget rules.

Democrats say the cuts are unfairly tilted against the poor and middle class and that repealing the health care law would take medical care away from about 27 million people. The measure cuts across a wide swath of domestic programs, including Pell grants and student loans, tax credits for the poor, and Medicaid, which provides assisted-living care for millions of frail elderly people.

“This budget tells our children that their education isn’t a priority. It makes it harder for their parents to put food on the table and own a home. It throws millions of Americans off of their affordable health care plans,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., top Democrat on the Budget Committee. “Simply put, it is a short-sighted plan that makes it harder for families to achieve the American dream.”

Republicans, by contrast, say balancing the budget will strengthen the economy and preserve important programs like Medicare for future generations.

“We are going to be passing a balanced budget for a stronger America so that we can … look to the future of our country and say to our children and my grandchildren that we’re doing everything that we can do to get this budget onto balance,” said Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn.