--- title: President Obama Comes Out Swinging Against GOP Budget Proposal description: Obama said Wednesday the budget offers a “path to prosperity [for] those who are already prospering.” canonical: https://time.com/3749903/barack-obama-republican-budget/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-18T20:55:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:16:00.182Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama: GOP Budget Only Helps the Wealthy og:description: Obama took shots at a speech in Speaker John Boehner's home state. og:url: https://time.com/3749903/barack-obama-republican-budget/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt716f7d9c0d6615a9/6987843e428a9e09eacc7b37/obama6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: President Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama: GOP Budget Only Helps the Wealthy twitter:description: Obama took shots at a speech in Speaker John Boehner's home state. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt716f7d9c0d6615a9/6987843e428a9e09eacc7b37/obama6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Comes Out Swinging Against House Republican Budget > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 18, 2015 8:55 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks at the City Club of Cleveland on March 18, 2015. President Barack Obama speaks at the City Club of Cleveland on March 18, 2015.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 18, 2015 8:55 PM UTC President Obama took his trash talking on Republicans’ 2016 budget proposal on the road Wednesday, telling a Cleveland audience it offers a “path to prosperity \[for\] those who are already prospering.” During a speech to the City Club of Cleveland, the President said though the success of his plan to expand “middle-class economics” proves that “trickle-down economics” don’t work, Republicans’ budget proposal—which would balance the budget within 10 years—doesn’t reflect that. “We know now that the doom and gloom predictions that justified this \[type of\] budget in the past were wrong,” Obama said. “Despite the new evidence, their approach hasn’t changed. “ Since the [House budget](http://time.com/3747394/house-republican-budget/) was released on Tuesday the Obama administration has come out swinging, using it as a convenient foil against [his own budget ideas](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/17/us/politics/comparing-obama-and-republican-budgets.html). Republicans suggest cutting $5.5 trillion from the budget over the next ten years, mainly by pulling back investments in domestic programs. Defense spending under the budget would increase, about $36 billion over Obama’s budget. The budget also calls for repealing Obama’s signature health care law. The President was particularly critical of the tax proposals in the Republican budget, which he said would benefit the wealthiest Americans and leave middle class Americans out to dry. “Those at the top aren’t asked to sacrifice a single dime,” Obama said. House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, hit back at the President’s appearance in his home state. “Sadly this is just the latest example of President Obama putting campaign-style events and partisan politics above governing. And it’s all a ruse designed to distract from the president’s own problems, “ a post on the[ Speaker’s website reads](http://www.speaker.gov/general/hello-tribe-fans). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3749903/barack-obama-republican-budget/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3749903/barack-obama-republican-budget/"},"headline":"Obama Comes Out Swinging Against House Republican Budget","datePublished":"2015-03-18T20:55:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:16:00.182Z","description":"He criticized the budget proposal during an event in Cleveland","url":"https://time.com/3749903/barack-obama-republican-budget/","keywords":["White House","Congress","Budget"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt716f7d9c0d6615a9/6987843e428a9e09eacc7b37/obama6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt716f7d9c0d6615a9/6987843e428a9e09eacc7b37/obama6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama","caption":"President Obama","creditText":"Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3749903/barack-obama-republican-budget/","name":"Obama Comes Out Swinging Against House Republican Budget"}}]}] ```