Congressman Jim Nussle says the two-point-six trillion dollar federal spending plan his House Budget Committee has approved presents an “unprecedented challenge.” “The biggest challenge we have is to continue the growth in our economy and the protection of country and at tackle the deficits,” Nussle says. Nussle, who is chairman of the budget panel, says republicans in the House want to cut 18 billion dollars deeper in programs like Medicaid, student loans, and other non-defense areas of the federal budget. “There are just some areas that are out of control in their spending and if we don’t reform them, they will continue to grow unchecked and out of control,” Nussle says. Medicaid spending would grow by seven-point-three percent under the House Republicans’ plan, two-tenths of a percent below what democrats want. The House G-O-P proposal Nussle crafted also includes spending for the war on terror. The budget plan President Bush presented Congress about a month ago did not. Nussle says Bush said he couldn’t give them the exact amount of what the war will cost, but Nussle says they “know it’s not zero” and that’s why he put that spending in the G-O-P plan. Democrats were quick to criticize the spending outline for continuing the federal budget deficit. Nussle says the plan reduces the deficit and if their spending arc continues, the deficit will be gone in five years.
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