The White House continued its offensive against the Republican budget this week charging GOP leaders with unveiling a proposal that enriches the wealth and hurts the middle class and seniors.
White House officials met with reporters on Tuesday to deliver their state-by-state breakdown of the contrasts with the Republican and White House budgets.
“Budgets are about priorities…,” said Press Secretary Josh Earnest. “Budgets are the time where you have to put numbers next to your priorities and you have to make choices.”
Earnest and Aviva Avon-Dine, acting deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, described the Republicans budget as benefiting the richest Americans while leaving out middle-class and lower-income Americans. They said the Republican budget would not ask the wealthy to contribute to deficit reduction while allowed several tax cuts geared toward the working families and students to expire.
Republicans in the House of Representatives proposed a budget last week that would balance the books within a decade by cutting $5.5 trillion in projected government spending. The Republican proposal would leave Social Security alone and reduce projected spending on Medicare by 2 percent over 10 years. The budget would also include steep cuts to Medicaid funding and eliminating all spending for the Affordable Care Act.
In North Carolina, the White House said residents would lose education benefits, college grants, job training services, and food stamps. At least 174,500 seniors would likely have to pay more for medicine, under the Republican proposal, White House officials said. An estimated 12 million families and students paying for college would likely see a $1,100 tax increase, officials said. Nearly 800 fewer children in North Carolina would have access to Head Start education benefits. And North Carolina would receive $36.7 million less in funding for disadvantaged students..