GOP: Obama budget plan a 'blank check' for spending, debt

WASHINGTON, April 13 (UPI) -- The budget U.S. President Barack Obama proposed this week is "a blank check for more spending and more debt," a Republican member of Congress said Saturday.

Delivering the GOP's weekly address, Rep. Jackie Walorski of Indiana said the president's plan would raise taxes by $1 trillion without balancing the budget, The Hill reported.

While Obama has described his budget as a compromise, Walorski said the president "won't follow through unless he can impose more tax increases."

"The president's budget isn't a compromise -- it's a blank check for more spending and more debt," she said. "If that were the answer, millions of Americans wouldn't be leaving the workforce and asking, 'where are the jobs?'"

The government would spend $964 billion more than already budgeted if Obama's proposal were accepted, Walorski said, and every American family's share of the national debt would increase by more than $60,000, ABC News reported.

The Republican alternative would balance the budget in 10 years by repealing the Affordable Care Act, lowering tax rates and eliminating tax loopholes, she said.

The president's proposal includes tax increases for higher-income Americans and makes major changes to Medicare and Social Security, CNN reported. Changes in entitlement programs trouble some Obama supporters, who fear some of the poorest recipients could be left without enough support.