Obama’s new budget bill to cut social security, medical care

Having failed to stop widespread budget cuts known as the sequester, which have taken USD 85 billion out of the US 2013 budget, President Barack Obama is set to propose a new budget bill to cut Medicare and social security spending.

The US budget negotiations have been stalled for months as Republicans want entitlement reforms to resolve the country’s four-trillion-dollar budget deficit.

Now, Obama hopes to appease Republicans with a bill that includes entitlement program reforms.

According to White House officials, Obama’s new budget bill will reduce the federal deficit by USD 1.8 trillion over ten years and chop out some funding from Medicare.

The plan will also stop people from collecting full disability and unemployment benefits.

The new budget plan has drawn criticism from the Republican House Speaker John Boehner.

On Friday, Boehner issued a statement saying, “The president and I were not able to reach an agreement late last year because his offers never lived up to his rhetoric.”

“In reality, he (Obama) has moved in the wrong direction. If the president believes these modest entitlement savings are needed to help shore up these programs, there is no reason they should be held hostage for more tax hikes. That is no way to lead and move the country forward,” the statement added.

Obama is expected to send his budget proposal to the Congress by the middle of the next week just hours before he meets with about a dozen Senate Republicans.