GOP budget would cut social programs

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WASHINGTON, May 3 (UPI) -- Republicans were putting the final touches on a U.S. budget that would preserve defense spending at the expense of social programs, Politico reported Thursday.

The House Budget Committee is to meet Monday on the 10-year package, and Republicans hope to avoid new taxes Democrats have demanded.

Under the GOP spending plan, monthly food stamp benefits would be cut by the end of summer. Unemployed workers would stop receiving benefits until their cash savings fall below $2,000. And working-class parents, many of them Latino, wouldn't receive child tax credit refunds if they don't prove they're authorized to work in the United States.

House Republicans are taking up the budget after adopting another round of tax cuts for those earning more than $1 million a year, Politico said.

The House budget plans aren't expected to win passage in the Democratic Senate.

But the budget reflects a national debate over spending for defense and social programs as well as taxes going into November elections.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., argued at Georgetown University the GOP budget priorities are moral and went so far as quoting Pope Benedict XVI to make his case the national debt needs to be dealt with in this generation and shouldn't be passed on.

And, Ryan said, "Government safety-net programs have been stretched to the breaking point -- failing the very citizens who need help the most."

But among other critics, the Roman Catholic bishops came out against the House budget, saying it would disproportionately cut programs that serve poor and vulnerable people.