Obama White House Shreds The Republican Senate Budget That McConnell Passed

The White House is sending the message to McConnell (R-KY) that the Republican budget he just passed will be rejected by President Obama unless serious changes are made.

In a statement, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said:

Following in the footsteps of their House colleagues, Senate Republicans today voted in favor of a budget that relies on top-down economics and gimmicks. The Senate Republican budget refuses to ask the wealthy to contribute a single dollar to deficit reduction, putting the entire burden on the middle-class, seniors, low-income children and families, and national security. Senate Republicans voted in favor of locking in draconian sequestration cuts to investments in the middle class like education, job training and manufacturing and also failed to responsibly fund our national security, opting instead for budget gimmicks, an approach that now faces procedural hurdles put in place by their own party.

Meanwhile, the President has a plan to bring middle class economics into the 21st Century. The President’s Budget builds on the progress we’ve made and shows what we can do if we invest in America’s future, and end sequestration, by cutting inefficient spending and reforming our broken tax code to make sure everyone pays their fair share. It lays out a strategy to strengthen our middle class with investments in research, education, training, and infrastructure, while also fulfilling our most basic responsibility to keep Americans safe.

In 2013 Republicans came to the negotiating table and ultimately chose the responsible path by supporting the Murray-Ryan agreement, which reversed harmful sequestration cuts to both defense and non-defense equally, dollar for dollar. Last night, Senators from both parties came together to call for building on that approach this year and to support paying for sequester relief with both spending and tax reforms. The President has been clear that he will not accept a budget that locks in sequestration or one that increases funding for our national security without providing matching increases in funding for our economic security. The Administration will continue to abide by these principles moving forward.

The tone of the White House statement makes it clear that if Republicans stick to their guns and give the President a budget like the ones that passed the House and Senate, Obama will veto it. By making reference to 2013 and the Ryan-Murray agreement, the White House is suggesting that McConnell and Boehner are not going to be allowed to ram their agenda down the throats of the American people via the budget process.

The Republican budgets rely on the gimmick of keeping the savings generated by the Affordable Care Act while promising to repeal “Obamacare.” The House and Senate budgets are nothing more than Republican wishlists and dream journals that should never become law.

President Obama is isn’t going to sign the Republican budget unless some serious changes are made. Without changes, the prospect of a presidential veto is growing by the day.