[Editor's Note: This statement was released by the White House on March 26, 2009.]

• The Republicans, the party of no, are now the party of no new ideas.
• The plan they released today is a rerun of the same failed policies that got our country into this deep financial and economic crisis: massive tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy, huge subsidies to big oil and gas companies, and no plan to bring down the costs of health care. This will inevitably result in deep cuts in everything from education to biomedical research and public safety.
• The Republicans are so committed to the failed approaches of the past that they appear to propose to undo the Recovery Act passed earlier this year which will jumpstart our economy and save or create 3.5 million new jobs.
• This could result in the immediate laying off of teachers and police officers, cuts to schools and colleges, and the inevitable increase in state and local taxes.
• Massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans - including keeping all the Bush tax cuts in place.
• Around $3 trillion over the next decade - an overwhelming share of it would go to the wealthiest Americans. And this is on top of the extending the Bush tax cuts.
• Huge subsidies to big oil and gas companies: The GOP plan decries the President's proposal to end $31 billion in tax subsidies to huge oil and gas companies. Perhaps they think these companies' record-profits the past few years weren't large enough?
• Their plan doubles-down on oil, gas, and fossil fuels. Their discussion of alternative energy supplies only includes oil shale, tar sands, and coal.
• This approach will keep us relying on fossil fuels, hurting our economy, environment, and national security as it would do nothing to reduce our reliance on foreign oil.
• This means no investment in the new clean-energy economy and allowing other nations - like China, Germany, and Japan - race ahead of us and create these jobs in their country and not ours.
• No plan to bring down the costs of health care: The GOP plan proposes band-aids on a system that is chronically ill. They propose changes that would have no real effect on the crushing costs facing families, businesses, and states. Their changes, in fact, would make it worse.
• By the detail provided, it appears that the GOP's plan could lead to the voucherizing of Medicare and even the whole health care system - driving up individual costs, especially for those who particularly need health care.
• An idea endorsed explicitly by the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee.
• They also propose to loosen the roles for insurance companies that would result in a race to the bottom that would undermine care for millions of Americans while administrative costs and paperwork would go through the roof.
• Their approach to the financial markets is to ask for more deregulation -- the same kind of deregulation that allowed AIG, an insurance company, to become a risky hedge-fund...and that helped bring about this financial crisis.
• Their plan will result in deep cuts to vital services like education and public safety.
• Yet this dishonest document only identifies cuts in: the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, foreign aid, green jobs, National Endowment for the Arts, Americorps, and family planning.
• The merits of these programs aside, this would save -- at most -- one half of one percent of the budget.
• The GOP plan also hints at cuts to "inefficient" programs such as: trade adjustment assistance and Emergency Medical Services for Children.
• This plan also will make it impossible to invest in what we need to thrive in the global economy: good schools, a 21st century-infrastructure, science and innovation.
• Let's be clear: we are going to reach out to Republicans - we are looking for the best ideas and solutions. But this document is a political attack dressed up as a serious policy paper. It is recitation of the failed policies that got us to this place in the first place.
• We will still make every effort to be inclusive and work with our Republican colleagues, but we will be inclusive when they are constructive.
• We look forward to their input going forward as we work together, as Americans, to get our economy back on track, put our economy on a fiscally sustainable path, and invest in education, health care, and clean energy so that we can prosper for generations to come.