Obama Defends Health Care, Education Budget Plans

President Barack Obama said he won’t scale back his plans to revamp the health-care and education systems in his proposed $3.6 trillion budget and challenged Republican critics to do more than “just say no.”

Obama, gearing up for a fight in Congress over his fiscal 2010 spending blueprint, met privately with the chairmen of the House and Senate budget committees before issuing a public rebuttal to Republicans who have criticized his plan as including too much spending at a time when deficits are ballooning.

“‘Just say no’ is the right advice to give your teenagers about drugs. It is not an acceptable response” to economic policies “proposed by the other party,” Obama said at the White House with Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad of North Dakota and House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt of South Carolina at his side.

“The American people sent us here to get things done and at this moment of enormous challenge, they are watching and waiting for us to lead,” he said.

Republicans and some Democrats have questioned whether Obama’s budget is too ambitious at a time when the budget deficit is projected to hit $1.75 trillion this year and the U.S. is in the midst of deepest recession in decades.

Future Plans

At issue are proposals including the economic impact of Obama’s $646 billion cap-and-trade system to control greenhouse gas emissions; how to pay for the president’s $634 billion health care initiative; the effect of Obama’s plan to limit the value of itemized tax deductions for those making more than $250,000 a year and a proposal to increase taxes, starting in 2011, on individuals earning more than $200,000 and on households earning more than $250,000.

Obama repeated his vow to halve the deficit by the end of his first term and said his budget will trim the growth of discretionary spending.

“What we will not cut back, however, are those investments that are directly linked to our long-term prosperity,” he said, citing his plans for health care, education and energy.

Republicans are largely united in opposing Obama’s budget.

“The president and his allies in Congress want to spend too much, tax too much, and borrow too much,” Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa said in the Republicans’ weekly radio address on March 14.

Cost Questions

Still, some Democrats, including Conrad, are raising questions about the cost of Obama’s plan. Conrad last week said Obama’s plan to overhaul the health-care system “gives many of us great pause” because of the price tag.

The White House plans to send to Congress a detailed budget proposal by late April.

Democrats in the House and Senate are struggling to assemble a spending blueprint, called a budget resolution, in time for the April 15 deadline. The resolution doesn’t have the force of law but serves as a guide for tax and spending bills later in the year that reflect Obama’s priorities.

Obama is bracing for a fight, activating an all-out grass- roots campaign through the Democratic National Committee and a 13-million-member e-mail list built from his 2008 presidential candidacy to fight for his budget, the Washington Post reported yesterday.