White House mocks Republican ire on economy

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WASHINGTON, March 9 (AFP): The White House today ridiculed Republican attacks on its big-spending economic revival plans as President Barack Obama eyed the green shoots of recovery this year.

"As (Republican president) Ronald Reagan once put it, there they go again," Peter Orszag, director of Obama's Office of Management and Budget, said on CBS program "Face the Nation."

"We've had eight years of one approach-it didn't work. We're offering a new approach," he said, rejecting Republican prescriptions for big tax cuts for higher-income earners and companies.

Opposition lawmakers, angered by Obama's 3.55-trillion- dollar budget proposal, are also vowing to do battle against a hefty package designed to keep government operations going this fiscal year.

The Democratic-led Congress Friday approved a stop-gap measure to fund operations through Wednesday, after Republicans stalled a 410-billion-dollar spending plan to keep the government running until October 1.

The initial bill was larded with so-called earmarks, pet projects for lawmakers' constituents, and nearly half of the requests came from Republicans.

Orszag said the White House did not like the earmarks but the government operations package was a holdover from last year and should be allowed to go through, prior to a purge promised by Obama in future spending bills.