Obama: Republican budget would shrink opportunity

Associated Press
President Barack Obama smiles as he stands with Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, after speaking to the media, Friday, April 4, 2014, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the Republican budget proposal would shrink opportunity and make it tougher for hard-working Americans to get ahead.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama says House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's budget gives massive tax cuts to the rich while cutting programs like education and research that spur job growth. The president says Republicans would also take away insurance from 7 million who enrolled through his health care law and would gut financial protections.

Obama says his own plan grows the economy from the middle out instead of the top down.

In the Republican address, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina says federal job-training programs are too scattered, bureaucratic and inefficient. He says Democrats should support Republican legislation to streamline the programs.

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Online:

Obama address: http://www.whitehouse.gov

Republican address: http://www.youtube.com/user/gopweeklyaddress