Obama to Refuse Republican Budget for 2016

Obama is not going to accept the Republican budget for Fiscal Year 2016, the White House said in a statement Friday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US President Barack Obama will not accept the Republican-passed budget for Fiscal Year 2016, which prolongs defense spending caps, or sequestration, while harming United States’ national security, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

"The President has been clear that he will not accept a budget that locks in sequestration or one that increases funding for our national security without providing matching increases in funding for our economic security," the White House statement read. "The [Obama] Administration will continue to abide by these principles moving forward."

Early on Friday, the Republican-led Senate voted 52-46 in favor of the Fiscal Year 2016 (FY2016) Budget Resolution. Republicans say the budget will help rein in the US federal government and will promote "economic growth," according to the US Senate Appropriations Committee.

The Republican budget aims to "repeal and replace Obamacare" through a budget reconciliation process, which Republicans claim would increase economic output to $500 billion.

The White House, however, said in the Friday statement that the Republican budget favors the wealthy, burdens middle class families and harms the United States’ national security, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

"[The budget] relies on top-down economics and gimmicks," and "refuses to ask the wealthy to contribute a single dollar to deficit reduction, putting the entire burden on the middle-class, seniors, low-income children and families, and national security," the White House said.

Prior to the US Senate’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget, the US House approved its FY2016 House Republican Budget Resolution on Wednesday.