WASHINGTON, March 18 (UPI) -- U.S. House Democrats and conservatives Monday floated their owns budget proposals, the Dems seeking more stimulus than their Senate counterparts.
The conservatives, meanwhile, proposed even steeper cuts than Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., seeking to balance the budget in four years and raising the retirement age to 70.
The Hill reported House Democrats proposed $1.2 trillion in new taxes by ending tax breaks for both corporations and individuals and $200 billion in stimulus spending, about twice the amount Senate Democrats proposed.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said like the Senate budget unveiled last week, the House proposal turns off the automatic sequestration cuts that kicked in two weeks ago, a move he said will save 750,000 jobs this year.
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House Republicans rejected the proposal, saying it clings to the status quo.
The Ryan budget proposed last week could balance the federal budget by 2023 but the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of 170 conservatives among the 232 House Republicans, offered its own proposal to eliminate the federal deficit in four years.
The spending blueprint would increase Social Security and Medicare eligibility to age 70 from the current 66 beginning in 2024 and would implement Ryan's Medicare "premium support," what critics have derided as a voucher system, for those age 59 and younger, four years sooner than the Ryan budget proposes.
The conservatives' plan would cap discretionary spending at $950 billion until the budget balances in 2017.
Committee Chairman Steve Scalise, R-La., said conservatives would be urged to support both the RSC plan and Ryan's budget when the proposals come up this week.
