On March 20^th, the House of Representatives released its 2013 budget plan, which included over $800 billion in funding cuts to Medicaid over the next ten years, turning Medicare into a “premium support program” (meaning that beneficiaries could choose between purchasing private insurance or have Medicare easier), and another $800 billion in spending cuts towards non-defense initiatives.

While the new budget is most definitely along Republican Party lines, President Obama has had his say on the budget. On Tuesday April 3^rd, the president criticized the plan at the annual Associated Press luncheon. Fueled by the fire for re-election, President Obama called the plan a “Trojan horse” that would only deepen the inequality between social classes. He also called the budget “thinly veiled Social Darwinism” and argued that making the choice between the two parties has never been this “unambiguously clear” before.”  Both the Romney campaign and the creator of the budget, Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan have commented on Obama’s response, saying that it was Obama’s “own budget blueprints,” are what to blame for the current economic crisis and that his response was merely “baseless partisan attacks.”

The “Ryan Plan” passed in the Republican controlled House with a vote of 228 to 191. But, it has almost no hope of getting through the Democrat controlled Senate and only widens the already large valley between the two parties. No Democrats supported it and only 10 Republicans opposed it. Before this budget was voted through, the House rejected a proposal given by the president, an in House plan given by Democrat members, and a bipartisan plan that contained spending cuts and tax hikes opposed by both parties. Finding a budget for the country is going to become yet another victim of the partisan war that has been raging in Washington. Unfortunately, it will only get worse in the coming months as Election Day in November quickly approaches.

With this in mind, there is no doubt that the budget will be a relatively hot topic during the campaign season. Since everyone is thinking about the economy, having a solid budget is something that is of great concern. However, we must keep in mind that the budgets that will be released in the coming months will more than likely be along partisan lines and will make some people pretty angry. We must also remember that politicians will do and say what is going to benefit their party, so a lot of mud is about to be thrown, especially towards the President and the GOP candidates. Now that President Obama’s campaign is in full effect, war has officially begun.