Justin Sink | Bloomberg News
President Barack Obama criticized the House Republican budget proposal during a visit to Cleveland on Wednesday, mocking their fiscal plans as “a path to prosperity for those who have already prospered.”
Obama said the U.S. recovery from the depths of a recession when he first took office demonstrated that his critics were wrong and that Republican prescriptions for the economy don’t work. He said the House budget plan rehashes old ideas about cutting taxes for the wealthy while gutting his health care law and programs that benefit middle-income families.
“Reality has rendered its judgment,” Obama said. “Trickle-down economics does not work and middle-class economics does.”
The speech came after Obama unveiled almost $500 million public-private investment for a manufacturing hub that provides workforce training and technology development.
He also toured a center in Cleveland where the federal government provides assistance to small manufacturers, including a local whiskey distillery.
The president’s appearance in Cleveland prompted reaction from Republican leaders.
U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Wadsworth, said in a statement: “Though Cleveland is on the path to a strong recovery, many in Northeast Ohio are still struggling with years of this administration’s failed policies that have led to stagnant wages and the lowest labor force participation rate in nearly four decades.”
Renacci criticized regulations on small business and said the new federal health care system has “higher costs and fewer choices.”
Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges said that under Republican leadership, Ohio has had “lower taxes, balanced budgets, and reduced regulation.”
The budget plan unveiled by House Republicans on Tuesday would cut $5.5 trillion in government spending and partially privatize Medicare. It also would include cuts to entitlement programs including Medicaid and repeal the health care law known as Obamacare. Its backers say that would result in a balanced budget within the next decade.
“Our budget will balance, but it’s also about growing our economy, growing jobs and building economic strength for our future,” House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said Tuesday at a news conference in Washington.
Senate Republicans produced their own version of the budget Wednesday, which would trim $5.1 trillion in spending and also seek to balance the budget within a decade.
Neither the Republican proposals nor the budget blueprint Obama sent to Congress earlier this year have any chance of becoming law. The White House has made clear it sees the documents as an opportunity to set out a clear message about each party’s priorities.
Also Tuesday, Obama rebutted Boehner’s frequent question — “Where are the jobs?” — by citing the 12 million created during the recovery.
Aides say that by highlighting what budget cuts would mean to health care, manufacturing and education, the president can draw a favorable contrast to his congressional opposition. Obama will cast the Republican plans as driven by ideology and emblematic of a party that has been unable to govern since taking control of Congress earlier this year.
The White House is trying to build momentum for issues that the administration sees as ripe for bipartisan compromise — primarily infrastructure spending, corporate tax code changes and trade — that so far have garnered little traction in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Republican leaders say Obama hasn’t done enough to win over his fellow Democrats on trade.
Wednesday’s trip to Ohio was a chance for Obama to argue the merits of his policies in a labor stronghold. The president is seeking to finish two major trade deals, one with Pacific nations and another with the European Union, before he leaves office.
Obama told the audience in Cleveland that he had numerous conversations with members of their congressional delegation nervous over the trade deals.
He said that while past pacts “didn’t always live up to the hype,” he saw this as an opportunity to guarantee protections for American workers and the environment.
“We can keep growing our exports and protect our workers with a strong new trade deal,” Obama said.
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1H2Ojw6
0 comments:
Post a Comment