ABC News’ Rick Klein and David Chalian report: Pressed on Republican critiques of his budget plan at Tuesday night’s press conference, President Obama had a ready answer
“I mean, we haven’t seen an alternative budget out of them,” the president said.
But what will the response be when that’s no longer the case?
“We’ve offered a lot of comprehensive proposals on this stimulus, on the omnibus, but we’re gonna also have a complete budget that, unlike his, does not use funny money, does not have tax increases,” Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said on “Politics Live” today.
“We always offer a comprehensive budget alternative, even if it’s rejected by the Democrats,” Brady added, “but we’ve seen what happens when Democrats spend. Deficits go through the roof. We have a better idea.”
Deficits rose dramatically during the Bush administration. But Republicans are trying to assign blame to the Democratic Congress; Democrats have held majorities in the House and Senate since 2007.
House Republicans say they will offer a full alternative to the president’s budget, though the same may not happen in the Senate, where GOP leaders say they’re more inclined to offer point-by-point amendments.
Brady, a deputy Republican whip who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee, said the congressional versions of the budget aren’t really improvements on the president’s request.
Though the GOP alternative has little chance of passing, Republicans will be offering up their vision, he said.
“You see in [the president’s] budget major tax increases both on the middle class, on those who invest and save, a lot on small businesses,” Brady said. “And when you see the price that average families have to pay for this cap and trade — this climate-change legislation that’s in his budget — it’s gonna go through the roof.”
“We take the opposite approach,” he added. “We avoid this controversial cap and trade, a program that raises taxes on the middle class. I think Democrats here say they want to control spending, but looking at the budget, looking at the stimulus, looking at how they voted on the omnibus bill, man they’re spending and borrowing just as much as the president.”
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